Alvaro Arbeloa’s ‘Dig’ at Real Madrid Stars Explained

Arbeloa took a leaf out of José Mourinho’s playbook with a cryptic comment supposedly aimed at some of his players.

Álvaro Arbeloa has caused some tension with recent comments. | Omar Arnau/Quality Sport Images/Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP/Maria Gracia Jimenez/Soccrates/Ricardo Larreina/Europa Press/Federico Titone/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Álvaro Arbeloa’s cryptic comments after Real Madrid’s 2–1 win over Celta Vigo on Friday night was meant as a “dig” at some injured and suspended players in the roster, according to a report.

Madrid traveled to Vigo without 10 first-team regulars. Injury had claimed the likes of Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo while the trio of Dean Huijsen, Álvaro Carreras and Franco Mastantuono were all suspended.

Despite the depleted resources, Madrid battled to a scratchy victory thanks to a stoppage-time winner from Federico Valverde. Buoyed by three crucial points to keep up with Barcelona at La Liga’s summit, Arbeloa took a leaf out of the playbook employed by his managerial mentor, José Mourinho.

Rather than revel in a hard-fought win, the interim coach took his postmatch press conference as an opportunity to aim a veiled barb at his own players, The Athletic report. Mourinho would be proud.

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What Did Álvaro Arbeloa Say?

Real Madrid do not have it all their own way. | Oscar J. Barroso/Europa Press/Getty Images

Arbeloa promptly made his case. “Today, we came here with 10 absentees, if I’m not mistaken, and the performance the players delivered on a pitch like this deserves a lot of credit,” he began. “We all know how tough and difficult Balaídos is and how Celta has been playing football recently, with the confidence they’ve had.

“So I’m very happy, especially for the personality, for the people who wanted to come, who wanted to push and in a difficult moment wanted to step up.

“As I said yesterday, these are the moments when you see the Real Madrid players, and today I saw many of them.”

It was the ones Arbeloa didn’t see who have drawn the spotlight.

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Every Real Madrid Player Missing vs. Celta Vigo

Jude Bellingham (left) and Kylian Mbappé (right) are both battling injury. | Diego Souto/Getty Images

Player	Position	Reason for Absence
Dean Huijsen	Center back	Suspended
Álvaro Carreras	Left back	Suspended
Franco Mastantuono	Winger	Suspended
Kylian Mbappé	Center Forward	Injured
Jude Bellingham	Midfielder	Injured
Rodrygo	Winger	Injured
Éder Militão	Center back	Injured
Dani Ceballos	Midfielder	Injured
David Alaba	Center back	Injured
Eduardo Camavinga	Midfielder	Injured

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Who Was Arbeloa Talking About?

Dani Carvajal has only made two appearances since returning from injury. | Pedro Loureiro/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

Let’s start with the positives. “The Real Madrid players” which Arbeloa took time to praise appear to be Dani Carvajal and Raúl Asencio. The latter has been recovering from a nasty neck injury but played the full 90 minutes at Celta to cover for the many defensive absentees.

Carvajal, who hasn’t always embodied the club’s gentlemanly ideals when openly complaining about a lack of game time this season, dutifully made himself available for selection despite suffering from stomach issues, per The Athletic. He was not called upon.

The subject of Arbeloa’s dig is not quite so clear.

The source quoted by The Athletic who insisted that Arbeloa’s comments were antagonistic neglected to name the subject of that ire. Any attempts to identify them is nothing more than speculation, although there is a shortlist of 10 names to go off.

Much like Mourinho, Arbeloa appears to be a coach with little time for minor injuries. This, after all, is a character who reveled in the “Spartan” nickname he earned during his playing career. “No retreat. No surrender. That is Spartan law,” reads his Instagram bio.

Rodrygo can be ruled out a potential target as there is no chance of him featuring again until 2027 after his devastating ACL tear. Éder Militão is also suffering from a long-term issue.

Mbappé and Bellingham are both dealing with less severe problems and were each out of the country at the time of Celta match to receive external treatment for their respective muscular injuries. However, Arbeloa has stressed that both players received the express approval of the club. “They have been in London and Paris with professionals from the club’s medical services,” the coach revealed. “Everything is being fully supervised by Real Madrid.”

Eduardo Camavinga’s absence offers some room for intrigue. The France international has missed Madrid’s last two matches with tooth ache. More specifically, one of Camavinga’s molars became infected, creating an issue which has been proven to increase the risk of other injuries. Mbappé suffered from the same problem last season and missed the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal against Real Sociedad.

Camavinga had been training in the buildup to the trip to Vigo but did not feature in the squad. He is expected to be included in the party which hosts Manchester City in Wednesday’s Champions League knockout tie.

The report makes a point of including injured and suspended players. Mastantuono’s two-match ban for dissent towards the referee was entirely unnecessary. Huijsen was also missing through yellow card accumulation yet Arbeloa publicly defended both players ahead of the Celta clash. “They have my full confidence,” he insisted.

It appears that isn’t universally true for the rest of Madrid’s squad.

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