Real Madrid manager Alvaro Arbeloa said their Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich was lost the moment Edouardo Camavinga was shown an “unfair” red card in their 4-3 second-leg defeat at the Allianz Arena.
Substitute Camavinga had only been on the pitch a matter of minutes before he was sent off for a second bookable offence, the deciding one being a trivial moment when he delayed giving the ball back to the opposition by picking up the ball after a stoppage in play.
The red card was punished only a minute later when Luis Diaz fired Bayern ahead in the tie from a position Camavinga may have been in had he not been dismissed, before Michael Olise sealed the 6-4 aggregate victory with another stunner.
And after Real had levelled the tie three times at the Allianz Arena after losing the first leg, Arbeloa was disappointed to see their Champions League journey end this way and questioned the decision to dismissed his midfielder.
“I think that was a great match in this second leg, we put players like Millitao, like Jude Bellingham, like Farland Mendy who couldn’t play in their first leg. And I think we did a great match here.
“We scored three goals, and we had the chances to score more goals. But I think with the red card, everything was over.
“It’s really unbelievable that you send off a player for this action, I can’t believe that it’s not possible in a play, in a play like that, in a match like that, that you send off [a player] for this.
“And we feel really, really upset, really angry, really disappointed, and I think all of this is a little bit unfair in a way.”
Real’s season is in danger of fizzling out as they crashed out of Europe only days after slipping nine points behind Barcelona in LaLiga.
Asked if tonight was a season-defining game, the Los Blancos boss said: “Yes, maybe because in the La Liga is everything is really difficult. We are nine points the difference with Barcelona, but we have some matches to play, and we have to give our best.”
Olise praises Bayern ‘resillience’
Michael Olise praised Bayerm Munich’s “resillience” as they roared back three times after Real levelled the tie.
The former Crystal Palace winger told TNT Sports: “Good match, back and forth. We knew they would come and try to come back.
“At first it was a bit like goal, goal, goal but eventually when it calmed down we played a bit better in the second half and we took our chances.
“We showed good resilience to keep coming back. In the end it was a result we’re happy with.
“The red card was late. We had built momentum before that, the game was going our way. Maybe it helped a bit but the game was still going how it was going.
“I tried it five or six times before, I was getting closer each time and it was nice to score.”
