Alvaro Arbeloa mentioned the sensation in Actual Madrid’s camp was one in every of “injustice” after Eduardo Camavinga’s pink card price them dearly of their Champions League quarter-final in opposition to Bayern Munich.
Having suffered a disappointing 2-1 defeat at dwelling in final week’s first leg, Madrid placed on a much-improved show in an exhilarating rematch in Munich.
Following a brace from Arda Guler and a objective from Kylian Mbappe, the combination rating was poised at 4-4 by half-time, with Aleksandar Pavlovic and Harry Kane on track for Bayern earlier than the interval.
Each groups handed up possibilities within the second half, however the recreation turned when Camavinga – who entered the fray as a 61st-minute substitute – acquired two yellow playing cards in eight minutes.
The Frenchman’s second warning was for timewasting as, after fouling Kane, he dribbled the ball away after which picked it as much as stop Joshua Kimmich from taking a fast Bayern free-kick.
Slavko Vincic’s choice to dismiss Camavinga was met with livid protests from Madrid gamers together with Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham, and Guler was additionally proven a pink card for foul and abusive language following the full-time whistle, with late targets from Luis Diaz and Michael Olise downing Madrid 6-4 on combination.
Madrid have now misplaced each legs of a Champions League quarter-final tie in every of the final two seasons (additionally versus Arsenal in 2024-25), having solely beforehand finished so as soon as earlier than then (versus Inter in 1966-67).
And whereas Arbeloa congratulated Bayern, the pink card was his principal focus as he instructed reporters: “No person understands {that a} participant might be despatched off for an motion like that. At that second, the motion is over.
“It’s an unfair choice and we’re very harm. It’s one thing you’ll be able to’t management. I congratulate Bayern on a terrific tie, however we’d have favored them to beat us otherwise.
“It was an inexplicable pink card, which no person understands, therefore the sensation of injustice and anger. All our work and energy has been thrown out by a choice like that one.”
2 – @realmadriden have been eradicated in @ChampionsLeague quarter-finals in back-to-back seasons. They’ve failed to succeed in the semi-finals as many instances within the final two seasons (2) as they did within the earlier 14 editions mixed (2 between 2010-11 and 2013-24). Unhappiness. pic.twitter.com/RDMkLIQcjO
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) April 15, 2026
Referee Vincic didn’t initially seem to understand that Camavinga had already been booked, and Arbeloa feels he wouldn’t have brandished the yellow card had he remembered the midfielder was on a warning.
“I believe he acquired the cardboard exactly due to that… the Bayern gamers needed to go and remind him that it was his second,” Arbeloa mentioned.
“However that’s not a yellow card. I don’t know, or he [the referee] hasn’t performed soccer. I believe it’s even worse that he doesn’t know he had a yellow card, as a result of it’s a double mistake.”
Madrid’s European exit means they may nearly actually endure a second straight season with out silverware, given they path Barcelona by 9 factors in LaLiga.
The final time they didn’t win LaLiga, the Copa del Rey or the Champions League in back-to-back campaigns was in 2008-09 and 2009-10, however Arbeloa isn’t involved about what which may imply for his future.
He mentioned: “Since I’ve sat on this chair, it wasn’t to indicate my stage as a coach, as a result of I didn’t need to win video games with my selections, however by serving to the gamers.
“We have now confronted Bayern, [Manchester] Metropolis, Atletico [Madrid]… Most groups have the stamp of their coaches, and absolutely this one has much less of mine than they do.
“However I’ve all the time tried to assist the membership in any method I can, and that’s how it is going to be till the final day. I’m not nervous in any respect, and I’ll completely perceive all the selections that the membership would possibly make.
“I’m a person of the membership, and if I’m harm, it’s not for me, however for Actual Madrid. As a result of we aren’t going to win the sixteenth title this yr. I care little or no about my future.”
