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Real Madrid have lost major ground in the La Liga title race after back-to-back defeats to CA Osasuna and Getafe.
Having succumbed to a 2-1 loss in Pamplona over a week ago, the Merengues suffered a shock 0-1 loss at the Santiago Bernabeu on Monday night against Jose Bordalas’ men.
This has allowed Barcelona to open up a four-point lead at the top of the table, leading to doubts and pressure growing over Real Madrid head coach Alvaro Arbeloa.
Crisis meeting held
Amidst all this, Miguel Angel Diaz of COPE reports that Arbeloa held an important meeting with the Real Madrid squad at Valdebebas this week following the team’s second consecutive league defeat.
Indeed, the club training ground was the setting for a crisis meeting on Tuesday, as the head coach first met with the team captains and later with the entire squad and coaching staff.
Under pressure. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
Although the coach stated after the match that he had “no reproach” for his players, in Tuesday’s meeting he asked them for “an extra effort in this final stretch of the season”.
This comes after reports emerged that Arbeloa was slowly losing the trust of the locker room after having initially managed to elicit a positive response from the squad following Xabi Alonso’s dismissal.
Injuries make things complicated
Meanwhile, according to sources close to the dressing room, the Real Madrid players do not consider themselves finished in La Liga despite being aware that the situation is very delicate, and they want to see the job through, starting with the upcoming game vs Celta Vigo.
However, the situation is further complicated ahead of the next match at Balaidos against Celta, for which Arbeloa could be without between eight and ten players.
Defence is the most affected area, with doubts surrounding David Alaba, who was substituted due to calf discomfort, and Raul Asencio, who is dealing with a cervical sprain and may have to push himself due to the shortage of options.
In addition, the likes of Rodrygo, Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, Eder Militao, and Dani Ceballos are all out injured, while Franco Mastantuono, Dean Huijsen, and Alvaro Carreras will miss out through suspension.