Lopetegui Rues Missed Chances In Alaves Defeat

By Joshua Walters

Real Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui says his side missed a lot of chances during their 1-0 loss to Deortivo Alaves at the Mendizorrotza on Saturday.

The Spanish trainer claims his team has overworked itself over the last few months, and though he admits to the poor results and the resultant bad reactions of the fans, he believes things would improve in due time.

The Los Blancos suffered their second defeat in three La Liga games this season courtesy Manu Garcia’s late strike, on an evening where they recorded six shots on goal as against the hosts’ four.

Lopetegui said at the post-match, his side was punished by their wastefulness upfront despite controlling the game.

“Naturally, we are disappointed because we wanted to win and started quite well, creating chances and playing well. But the fact we did not score and were punished for it”

“It was a harsh punishment, but they took advantage of their chance. We cannot be negative and must be calm because we know it is a difficult moment. I am the first to be responsible as the coach.

“This team has been working like beasts  for three months, and it is logical that the fans are disappointed, but we need perspective because it is only October and we are just three points off the league so we would recover as quickly as possible.”

Real Madrid controlled the game from the onset by displaying some nice inter-positional play to force the hosts to break into their defensive shields in their attempt to keep the visitors at bay.

Karim Benzema planted a goal-bound header low towards the middle of the target, after a nice cross inside the box in the 7th minute, but Ximo Navarro deflected it away.

Alaves’ Jonathan Calleri controlled a cross inside the box and sent a shot towards the right post, but Tomas Pina reacted superbly to block the effort.

A cross was whipped into the box by Alvaro Odriozola, and Toni Kroos controlled it well before hitting a shot towards goal, but Ximo Navarro again blocked it to safety, few minutes.

Casemiro had a good opportunity from long range in the 54th minute and directed a shot towards the bottom right corner, but Fernando Pacheco was alert and made a comfortable save.

Alaves pushed forward in the 57th minute, and a sweet pass found Ruben Duarte, on the edge of the box, who drilled the ball towards the right side of the goal. Thibaut Courtois was almost caught out, but pulled off a brilliant save at the last second.

Jony places a shot at goal from the edge of the box that bends just wide of the right post on the hour mark, and Fernando Pacheco was alert in the 79th minute to save Gareth Bale from landing a free kick into the right top corner,  six minutes before Jony completed a nice solo move by opening up space on the edge of the box for a shot, which lacked accuracy.

Both sides looked destined to be settling for a draw, but fate changed positively for the hosts and negatively for the visitors five minutes into stoppage time.

A corner was whipped in and Manu Garcia was in the right place at the right time to plant a header straight under the crossbar, and Real Madrid had no time to respond as referee Santiago Jaime Latre ended proceedings shortly after the restart.