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ALVARO ARBELOA FUMES AT REAL MADRID PLAYER AFTER GETAFE LOSS - 'IT’S UNACCEPTABLE'

Alvaro Arbeloa fumes at Real Madrid player after Getafe loss – ‘It’s unacceptable’

Real Madrid manager Alvaro Arbeloa defended his side’s performance against Getafe after their 1-0 defeat on Monday night, and while he admitted that his side can play better, felt they had done enough to win the game. On the other hand, he also had some stinging words for Franco Mastantuono.

The defeat means that the gap to Barcelona at the summit of La Liga remains at four points, a gap that in theory Los Blancos could overhaul. Yet many Madridistas were left wondering whether overhauling their most bitter rivals was possible given the way their side is playing. Arbeloa was clear that the title was still in play.

“No, now we have no other objective than to win the 36 points that remain at stake. This is Real Madrid and nobody gives up here. It’s a gap that we think we can close.”

Arbeloa: ‘We had clearer chances than Getafe’

Despite the feeling that Getafe had carried out their gameplan to perfection, as Jose Bordalas noted, Arbeloa believed his side had done enough for the three points.

“We had clearer chances than Getafe. We had Vinicius’s chance, Rudiger’s chance, Rodrygo’s chance… We knew the kind of game we were going to play. Nothing happened that we didn’t know was going to happen, and that’s how I see the game.”

“Saying that ‘it’s impossible for us to play well, that’s putting words in my mouth that I have not said. It’s true that we had chances to score; it’s also true that we can play better. I can’t fault my players for their effort. The responsibility for improving our play is mine. If anyone is responsible for the defeat, it’s me.”

Arbeloa also had criticism for the officiating, despite Antonio Rudiger escaping a red card.

Image via Sport / Europa Press

“Today we struggled against an opponent that defended very well. We needed to be more aggressive in certain situations. We always tend to rely on Vinicius for the easy option, but we need to be a constant threat on both flanks. There were also many interruptions. The referee allowed a game where the focus was on not playing. But I have no criticism of Getafe because they do what they’re allowed to do.”

Arbeloa angry with Mastanuono for sending off

Late on, Mastantuono was sent off for dissent, meaning he will be absent for Real Madrid’s trip to face Celta Vigo on Friday. Bookings for Alvaro Carreras and Dean Huijsen will also keep them out of the trip, but Arbeloa felt Mastantuono’s was avoidable.

“It’s unacceptable. The Mastantuono thing cannot happen. Huijsen and Carreras’ yellow cards are part of the game. But we’re going to have three very important players out in Vigo.”

Arguments for improvement

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Arbeloa had the following reasons for optimism.

“We have great players, others who are going to recover, and we have that objective of continuing to improve and that we can do better. I understand the criticism and the perspective that exists, but we played a good enough game to beat Getafe. We didn’t know how to take advantage of the chances we had.”

Los Blancos face Celta Vigo at 21:00 CEST at Balaidos this Friday, with a second chance to reduce the gap to Barcelona to one point, ahead of the Catalans facing Athletic Club. Following that, Real Madrid will take on Manchester City in the Champions League Round of 16.

- Ruairidh Barlow

CRISTIANO RONALDO BUYS 25 PERCENT STAKE IN SPANISH CLUB ALMERIA

The Al Nassr and Portugal forward has acquired the stake through the subsidiary CR7 Sports and the investment comes as part of the club ownership consortium led by SMC Group

Cristiano Ronaldo has bought a 25 percent share in Almeria, the Spanish club have announced. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire.

Cristiano Ronaldo has bought a 25 percent share in Almeria, the Spanish club have announced.

The Al Nassr and Portugal forward has acquired the stake through the subsidiary CR7 Sports and the investment comes as part of the club ownership consortium led by SMC Group.

Almeria are currently third in the Segunda Division and are two points away from leaders Racing in the bid for promotion to LaLiga.

Ronaldo said in a statement on the club's X account: "It has been a long-held ambition of mine to contribute to football, beyond just on the pitch. UD Almeria is a Spanish club with strong foundations and clear potential for growth.

Official statement:

Cristiano Ronaldo invests in UD Almería as part of the club ownership consortium led by SMC Group pic.twitter.com/0lk92FUjPH

— UD Almería (@UDAlmeria_Eng)

February 26, 2026

"I look forward to working alongside the leadership team to support the next phase of the club's growth."

President of Almeria Mohamed Al Khereiji added: "We are very pleased that Cristiano has chosen to invest in our club.

"He is regarded as the greatest to ever play the game, he knows Spanish football very well and he understands the potential of what we are building here both in terms of the team and the academy."

- PA

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- Renato Gonçalves

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BARCELONA'S GERALD PIQUÉ COULD HAVE DIED DUE TO HEAD COLLISIONS ACCORDING TO NEUROSURGEON

Gerard Piqué has taken on thousands of aerial challenges in his career, but one incident stands out to Andreu Gabarrós, head of neurosurgery at Hospital de Bellvitge. Reflecting on a match in which the defender briefly lost consciousness, Gabarrós recalled thinking, “If he gets another impact, he could die.” That moment, he says, illustrates how dangerous head trauma in football can be.

Gabarrós noted that Piqué was initially on the verge of returning to the pitch before medical staff intervened. Their decision, he believes, was crucial. A second blow before full recovery can trigger what specialists call second-impact syndrome, a rapid and severe brain swelling that can be fatal without immediate intervention. Cases in American football exposed the phenomenon years ago, and the same mechanism can apply in any contact sport.

The neurosurgeon emphasized that a concussion should sideline a player for at least a couple of weeks, regardless of how mild the symptoms may seem. Dizziness, headache, nausea, instability, or simply a sense that “something isn’t right” should prompt immediate evaluation. While athletes often push to continue, he stressed that medical teams must override them when necessary.

Beyond dramatic incidents like the one involving Piqué, football continues to grapple with the potential cumulative effects of repeated heading. Each impact moves the brain within the skull, and although cerebrospinal fluid provides a degree of protection, it is not always enough to prevent minor injuries. Gabarrós explained that repetitive heading can amount to microtrauma. Some studies have detected proteins in players’ blood that act as markers of mild brain injury after controlled heading drills. While he said there is still no conclusive structured evidence linking football to widespread chronic neurological decline, there are clinical parallels to conditions seen in boxing, where repeated blows are far more frequent and intense.

Even so, chronic traumatic encephalopathy remains an area in need of more research. According to Gabarrós, only a very small share of players appear to develop long-term cognitive issues, suggesting that personal factors may play a significant role. He cautioned that current science cannot justify claims such as “don’t play football because you’ll get dementia,” especially given how rare these outcomes appear to be.

The tragic death of young goalkeeper Raúl Ramírez, who suffered a fatal acute brain injury after a single accidental collision, underscores the difference between sudden severe trauma and long-term, low-grade damage. Gabarrós explained that an acute event can involve hematomas, brain swelling, or contusions that require intensive care, surgery, and in some cases cannot be reversed. Such incidents, while uncommon, are inherent to any contact sport.

Protocols in Spain vary by club, and Gabarrós believes national guidelines from La Liga or the federation would help standardize prevention. Trainers and players, he said, should be better informed about the risks, since symptoms can be subtle and easy to ignore. Given that most incidents occur during training sessions, oversight cannot be limited to match days.

- Luis Mazariegos

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LALIGA PULLS OUT OF MIAMI FIXTURE CITING 'UNCERTAINTY' IN SPAIN

 

October 21 – Spain’s LaLiga has officially cancelled its proposed Villareal-Barcelona regular season match in Miami on December 20 after “conversations” with its US promoter Relevent Sports, and citing “uncertainty that has arisen in Spain over the past few weeks”.

Opposition to playing the game in Miami had met with widespread condemnation from football’s stakeholders globally and in the last few days from the Spanish player’s union and individual players who said the match would have damaged the competitive integrity of the league in favour of Barcelona as Villareal is a tough away game for any team in the league.

In a remarkable attack on the governing bodies of countries outside Spain, LaLiga said: “The project fully complied with all federative regulations and did not affect the integrity of the competition, as confirmed by the competent institutions responsible for ensuring compliance, which opposed it for other reasons.”

The statement is at best a mis-leading half truth, in that the game was never fully sanctioned. While the Spanish FA (RFEF) meekly gave its sanction and UEFA ‘reluctantly’ did the same, neither the US Soccer Federation (USSF)or Concacaf, the two most important governing bodies covering the game in the US, where LaLiga and Relevent needed local permission to play, had not given their go-ahead.

LaLiga president Javier Tebas had said to the world’s media at a conference 10 days ago that getting the sanctions was purely an administrative process.

His comment was immediately met with a terse statement from Concacaf saying that the application had to go through due process and that it was conducting a review that involved consulting all of its stakeholders, as well as those in other regions. That process would be completed before any decision would be made, said Concacaf.

While the USSF had remained silent on sanctioning, Concacaf had neither declined or approved the application but had remained focussed on football’s eco-system both in its own region and member nation, where focus is on growing domestic leagues, their clubs and regional club competition. Thought was also being given to the impact and future consequences for stakeholders outside the Concacaf region.

UEFA’s decision to sanction the match was made on the basis that FIFA’s rules lacked legal clarity and hence felt pressured into sanctioning a game they didn’t want to. FIFA is currently undergoing a legal review of its statutes in this respect.

In its statement LaLiga also pointed the finger at the Premier League and UEFA and its Champions League (for which UEFA currently has Relevent as its new sales partner), saying that they “continue to expand their reach and ability to generate revenue, initiatives like this are essential to ensure the sustainability and growth of Spanish soccer.”

The difference is that neither the Premier League or UEFA are trying to play games in the US backyard for commercial gain. LaLiga is essentially admitting that it has been unable to compete on an equal footing commercially with its own product in the broadcast media market.

“Holding an official match outside our borders would have been a decisive step in the global growth of the competition, strengthening the international presence of clubs, the positioning of players, and the visibility of Spanish soccer in a strategic market such as the United States…” said LaLiga.

“Renouncing such opportunities hinders the generation of new income, limits clubs’ capacity to invest and compete, and reduces the international projection of the entire Spanish soccer ecosystem.”

LaLiga had put tickets on pre-sale for the December fixture. No figures have been released on how many tickets have been sold, but the assumption is that it is not enough to continue to battle through the discontent of football’s North American and global opinion.

Renouncing such opportunities hinders the generation of new income, limits clubs’ capacity to invest and compete, and reduces the international projection of the entire Spanish soccer ecosystem.

In a separate statement, Relevent said it had informed La Liga of the need “to postpone” the match, arguing that the uncertainty in Spain had left “insufficient time to properly execute an event of this scale”.

For Relevent it is perhaps a fortunate end to what was increasingly looking like an uncomfortable problem, and a potentially growing conflict of interest, taking into account their new Champions League contract with UEFA

- Paul Nicholson 

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