MADRID: Real Madrid go into Wednesday’s Champions League clash against Manchester City reeling from a surprise home setback at the weekend and a lengthy injury list, but coach Xabi Alonso says they need to bounce back quickly.
Real lost their 100% home record in La Liga on Sunday in a shock 2-0 defeat to Celta Vigo after Williot Swedberg scored an audacious goal with his heel and a second in stoppage time to leave the hosts four points off leaders Barcelona.
They finished the game with nine men after red cards for Fran Garcia and Alvaro Carreras but have little time to reflect on the setback before their Champions League assignment.
“We are all angry, evidently this was not the game we wanted, it was not the result we wanted,” Alonso told reporters at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, as Monday’s Spanish sports press speculated on the state of his relationship with his players.
“We have to try and turn the page as quickly as possible. It’s only three points. There’s a long way to go in La Liga. And we have the Champions League match against City to react and get rid of this bad taste in our mouths.”
With Real winning only one of their last five La Liga fixtures, Alonso has come under scrutiny for his relationship with players, system of playing and tactical decisions, while injuries have suddenly piled up again.
Defender Eder Militao hobbled off the Bernabeu pitch in the first half on Sunday and joins David Alaba, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dani Carvajal, Dean Huijsen and Ferland Mendy on the injury list. Jude Bellingham also suffered a cut above the eye but is expected to feature against Manchester City.
“The situation is tight due to injuries. We have to make adjustments for each match, and we’ll see how things go for Wednesday,” added the coach, who took over from Carlo Ancelotti at the start of the season.
Sports newspaper AS said Alonso was unable to motivate his team while Marca claimed he would not be able to fix things.
But the coach offered a different outlook: “We’re all united and know that we can turn things around. There’s still a long way to go, and you can have a bad game at home. We know what the demands are at this club. Defeats hurt a lot, but we have to look ahead.”
Asked if he was playing for his future against City, Alonso insisted it was only the points at stake.
“We’re playing for three points in the Champions League, in a competition we’re in a good position in, and that’s what we’re playing for,” continued Alonso. “But we want to play well, we want to play a good game, we want to show we can play a lot better than we did today. We know that.”
Celta celebrated a first win at the Bernabeu in 19 years; the Galician club jumping from 14th to 10th with 19 points.
Swedish substitute Swedberg cleverly diverted a cross from Bryan Zaragoza past Thibaut Courtois in the 53rd minute to put Celta ahead and had an easy finish three minutes into added time, going around the goalkeeper to wrap up the points.
Reals cause was not helped by the 64th minute dismissal of Garcia, who picked up two yellow cards in 60 seconds, but they laid siege to the visitors’ goal for the last 20 minutes as Celta went into a defensive shell to hold onto their advantage.
Real defender Carreras was also dismissed for two cautions, his second coming in stoppage time at the end of the game as the home side’s frustrations boiled over.
“[This was] tremendous... we read the game very well, we had some luck in the chances that we had, but we did well,” Celta’s Borja Iglesias told Movistar. “With the team they have and their quality, it’s hard to equal them, but we read it well, we had the ball, we played in their half, we played a great game.”
Earlier on Sunday, Espanyol moved up to fifth as Roberto Fernandez’s first half penalty handed them a 1-0 home win over Rayo Vallecano as both sides finished with 10 men.
Espanyol trail fourth-place Atletico Madrid by four points, having played one game fewer than Diego Simeone’s team.
Elche’s Rafa Mir scored twice as they ran out 3-0 home winners over struggling Girona, while hosts Valencia and Sevilla remained in the bottom half of the table after a 1-1 draw.
Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2025