BARCELONA: Thibaut Courtois watched from the other end of the pitch as Real Madrid’s forward took turns crashing against the Arsenal defense.
Courtois had done his part by stopping a penalty. But Kylian Mbappé’s best shot sailed high and wide. Rodrygo’s dribbles got him nowhere, and Vinícius needed a defensive blunder to take Madrid’s sole goal of a 5-1 aggregate defeat in the Champions League quarterfinals.
“Sometimes you have to be self-critical and have a good look at everything,” the Belgian goalkeeper said after the 2-1 home loss to Arsenal midweek.
“Maybe we need to make more team moves and not so many individual ones, because if they double-mark Vini or Mbappé they can break it once, but not three, four or five times,” Courtois said. “We can’t always rely on one of our four attacking players dribbling past three defenders and scoring a great goal, we have to attack and defend better as a team.”
Exiting from the competition they have won five times in the last decade was not what Madrid expected when they added Mbappé to a squad that was coming off a record 15th European Cup and Spanish league title last season.
The France captain has scored a glut of goals in his first season with Madrid but failed to come up big in the biggest games, including two lopsided losses to Barcelona. Jeers were heard for Mbappé when he limped off the field on Wednesday with a hurt right ankle.
The hard truth is that the team have played worse with him on board. Madrid have had injuries in defense and they lost midfielder Toni Kroos to retirement but their attack has failed to click, with Mbappé having to adapt to a central striker role as Vinícius’ production dropped.
Courtois even called into question the range of attacking options for a squad that also counted on Endrick and Brahim Díaz as sparks off the bench. The goalie said Madrid were missing the tall, big striker who could win balls in the box like Joselu Mato, who scored critical goals in last season’s Champions League.
“It was difficult to find openings and we had little success. We were also unlucky with balls into the box. This year we don’t have a Joselu who can win those duels,” Courtois said. “Now we have to analyze what we can do better because we still have the (Spanish) league, the final of the Copa del Rey and the Club World Cup, and we want to get everything right.”
Athletic Bilbao up next in La Liga
There will be little let up for Madrid with a strong Athletic Bilbao arriving on Sunday aiming to dig into the wound left by Arsenal.
Madrid must try to overhaul a four-point deficit to Barcelona in La Liga as they try to salvage the season by defending their domestic title.
Madrid could be facing a seven-point gap with Barcelona by kickoff, if the front-runner beat Celta Vigo at home on Saturday.
Madrid will also face Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final next week, but coach Carlo Ancelotti will likely also need his team to retain the league crown to keep his job. The Italian manager admitted his future was in doubt after his team was outplayed by Arsenal, while also attempting to dampen speculation.
“I’m only thinking about preparing for the next game to stay in the fight for the league title and try to win the Copa del Rey,” he said.
Courtois questions Real Madrid’s ‘individual’ attack after lopsided loss to Arsenal
https://arab.news/c6fjh
Courtois questions Real Madrid’s ‘individual’ attack after lopsided loss to Arsenal
- “Sometimes you have to be self-critical and have a good look at everything,” the Belgian goalkeeper said
- “Maybe we need to make more team moves and not so many individual ones”
Chelsea paid for costly errors in Arsenal defeat, says Rosenior
LONDON: Liam Rosenior admitted Chelsea paid the price for costly mistakes after Arsenal took advantage of his side’s blunders to win 3-2 in the League Cup semifinal first leg on Wednesday.
Rosenior’s team face a tough task to set up a final against either Manchester City or Newcastle following their error-strewn display in their new manager’s first home match.
Chelsea were guilty of sloppy marking for Ben White’s early headed opener before goalkeeper Robert Sanchez gifted striker Viktor Gyokeres Arsenal’s second goal after half-time.
Alejandro Garnacho got one back for Chelsea but Martin Zubimendi then netted for Arsenal after more lacklustre defending from Rosenior’s men.
Substitute Garnacho’s second goal gave Chelsea a glimmer of hope heading into the second leg at the Emirates Stadium in February.
“Disappointed to concede from a corner. Disappointed with the third goal as well because we were right back in the game and we were on top at that moment,” Rosenior said.
“We switched off from a restart from a central free-kick but I can’t fault the players.
“We need to make sure we perform well individually and we don’t concede as many goals.”
Rosenior was without a host of key players, including Cole Palmer, Reece James and Liam Delap, due to injuries and illness.
‘It’s another step’
In his second game since replacing Enzo Maresca as Blues boss, the 41-year-old took heart from the way Chelsea kept fighting to find a way back into the tie.
“We’ve had illness in the squad, we’ve picked up a few knocks this week but what the squad has shown is that they are willing to run and fight for each other,” he said.
Rosenior, who oversaw a 5-1 FA Cup third-round win at Charlton in his debut last weekend, refused to condemn Sanchez for the latest in a long line of shaky performances.
“Rob’s a very good goalkeeper. He made an outstanding save at 3-1 to keep us in the tie, so for me load of things to improve but the overall attitude of the team I liked,” Rosenior said.
“Hopefully, we get a few bodies back for Brentford on Saturday.”
Arsenal are now unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions as they moved a step closer to their first silverware since the 2020 FA Cup.
The Gunners had lost their previous four semifinals across a variety of competitions, including the League Cup last year.
Mikel Arteta was impressed with Arsenal’s ability to subdue Chelsea for long periods, but he was left to rue their failure to kill off their London rivals.
“I have to praise the players for the performance against a really good opponents. It’s a really tough place to come. That’s why I really value what the team has done again,” Arteta said.
“We had two massive chances to score the fourth one and the result would have been very different. At that moment they created a chance and scored a goal. So it is a very different feeling. It’s game on.”
As well as leading the Premier League, Arsenal are also still chasing Champions League and FA Cup glory.
But after so many last-four failures in the recent past, Arteta won’t take anything for granted.
“It’s another step. It’s just half-time. We know the big fight we are going to have at the Emirates in a few weeks because they are a top side,” he said.
“What we’re doing every three days is impressive.”
