Tag: Blow

Real Madrid slipped up on Saturday night, losing a game many would have expected them to win against an Espanyol side that started the day in La Liga’s relegation zone.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side remain top of the table and one point ahead of Atletico Madrid, who they host on Saturday in a game that could have a big say in this season’s title race.

They will be without Antonio Rudiger for that game — and he is likely to miss the first leg of their Champions League play-off against Manchester City on February 11, too — after the Germany international suffered a muscle injury during the 1-0 defeat on Saturday evening.

That injury leaves Madrid with only one fit senior centre-back for a crucial part of the season (and that is David Alaba who has only just returned from an ACL injury), which has led to criticism of the board’s planning and Ancelotti’s squad management.

That wasn’t the only thing that Madrid fans were not happy about. The performance of the referee and the video assistant referee were also widely criticised, especially the decision not to send off Espanyol’s Carlos Romero for a lunging tackle on Kylian Mbappe. It was Romero who went on to score Espanyol’s 85th-minute winner.

The club were critical of the officials, too. First, on their television channel — where they called for the departure of Rafael Louzan, the president of the Spanish football federation (RFEF) who was appointed last year — and then in the post-match report they published on their website.

Mario Cortegana analyses the big talking points from a disappointing defeat for Madrid…

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Madrid’s fury at the match officials

Immediately after the match finished, Real Madrid TV pointed the finger at the match officials for not sending off Romero for his foul on Mbappe (the defender was shown a yellow card).

“It’s mind-boggling — this has been going on for many years in the filthy Negreira league,” said one of the commentators, alluding to the scandal involving Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice-president of Spanish football’s refereeing committee who owned a company that was paid a total of €7.3million (£6.4m; $7.8m) by Barcelona between 2001 and 2018.

It was in the 60th minute of the game, with the score at 0-0, when Romero lunged at Mbappe to stop a Madrid counter-attack, his studs connecting with the France forward’s knee.

“I knew Kylian is impossible to stop on the run,” Romero explained. “I tried it as best I could, it was a bit ugly, I didn’t like it, I apologised to him.”

The referee did not show Romero a red card, the VAR did not intervene, and the left-back continued to play and later proved decisive with his late goal.

‘The player who should have been sent off scored,” they lamented on RMTV. ‘This is the fate of the CTA (the technical committee of referees), this is the Spanish league, what Mr (Luis) Medina Cantalejo (president of the CTA) had planned has been fulfilled.”

The club’s television channel, known for its acid criticism of the refereeing establishment on a weekly basis, also claimed that “(Carlos) Clos Gomez (head of VAR) cannot continue one more minute in charge of VAR” and that “Rafael Louzan (president of the Spanish football federation) has to leave as quickly as he arrived”.

The match report on Madrid’s website began: “Real Madrid were beaten by Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium in a match overshadowed by the performance of referee Muniz Ruiz and Iglesias Villanueva in the VAR room.”

Mbappe, for his part, said it all without saying anything. When asked by journalists in the mixed zone about the decision, he put his hand to his mouth in a zip gesture.

“The decision made by the referee and the VAR is inexplicable,” lamented a very serious Ancelotti in his press conference. “Everyone saw it. The most important thing is to watch and protect the player, fortunately nothing happened.”

Real Madrid were also upset that a Vinicius Junior goal was disallowed in the 21st minute. Their match report said: “The goal was disallowed for a prior foul by Mbappe. In the replay, it was plain to see that Pol Lozano had grabbed the Frenchman by the neck as he entered the area and that the striker then shook off the Espanyol player.”

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Rudiger will be a huge miss for Madrid

Only 15 minutes had passed in the game when Rudiger was lying on the pitch in pain and there was immediate concern from his team-mates.

He tried to get up but immediately sat back down and then had to be replaced by academy graduate Raul Asensio.

The club confirmed after half-time that Rudiger was suffering discomfort in his right hamstring and he would undergo scans on the injury. After the game, Ancelotti confirmed Rudiger had a muscle injury.

Rudiger is expected to miss Madrid’s next three matches — the Copa del Rey quarter-final against Leganes on Wednesday, the Madrid derby on Saturday and the Champions League play-off first leg away to Manchester City three days after.

It will certainly be a relief for City striker Erling Haaland if Rudiger were to miss that game, given the big Norway striker has struggled in his head-to-head battles with the German. Real Madrid are the team that Haaland has faced the most in the Champions League and he is yet to score or assist a goal in any of those four matches.

Rudiger’s absence leaves Ancelotti with Alaba as his only senior centre-back available, as no one is counting on Jesus Vallejo, who has only played 10 minutes this season.

The Austria international, who was out between December 2023 and January 2025 with his anterior cruciate ligament injury, has played 70 minutes in four games since his return. However, he is yet to start a game, despite Ancelotti saying he would this week.

Without Eder Militao, who out for the remainder of the season with a similar knee injury, there are only two other alternatives for Ancelotti: Aurelien Tchouameni, a midfielder who has been criticised for his performances at centre-back, and Asencio who, in the summer, was not even among the academy’s top two choices to reinforce the first team in the case of an emergency.

This scenario points to the club’s poor planning in this position. Ancelotti was asked about this shortage of players and signings, but did not want to criticise the board: “We’ve talked about it, we’ve thought about it and we know what we have to do.”

Some inside the club do not understand why Ancelotti has not used Asencio more to give Rudiger a breather. Until yesterday, Rudiger had completed all but four games this season (playing 2,891 minutes); he turns 32 in March and has been carrying a knee problem.

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Ancelotti’s Fantastic Four fail to shine

Real Madrid failed to score for the fourth match this season, but it was the first time that has happened when their galactico attack of Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo, Mbappe and Vinicius Jr has started together.

Between them, those four lost possession 47 times during the match — Vinicius Jr (14), Mbappe (11), Rodrygo (11) and Bellingham (11) — and Bellingham and Mbappe were seen looking frustrated while talking together in the final minutes.

According to Opta, Real Madrid enjoyed 76 per cent possession against Espanyol, their highest tally in a La Liga away game since the 2005-06 season.

76% – Real Madrid enjoyed 76% possession against Espanyol, their highest tally in a LaLiga away game since at least the 2005/06 season. Unsuccessful. pic.twitter.com/nycQLMhyzD

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) February 1, 2025

They dominated when it came to chance creation too, with xG of 1.72 compared to Espanyol’s 0.31.

But they were unsuccessful in attacking positions, and this ended a remarkable run of scoring by the first team. In the previous 14 matches they had scored at least two goals in each one, something they had not done since the 1960-1961 season.

That run is over, and now their focus will turn to Wednesday’s Copa del Rey quarter-final, and then two massive games against Atletico and Manchester City.

(David Ramos/Getty Images)