Arbeloa starts Real Madrid tenure with disastrous Copa del Rey defeat at Albacete

For 20 minutes of Álvaro Arbeloa’s debut as manager of Real Madrid, the fog came down and no one could see any football. For the other 70, they couldn’t either. Not from his team, at least. From Albacete Balompié, 17th in the second division, they witnessed something magical. An outrageous goal scored with single second to go was the perfect end to the greatest story they ever told, history made. When the final whistle went, Madrid headed straight down the tunnel, defeated again, while the party began in the Carlos Belmonte.

Arbeloa had said he wanted to see Vinícius Júnior dance; instead, it was Albacete’s fans who would, long into the night of their lives. This could not have been any better; at Madrid, things can always get worse, the crisis deepening. Careful what you wish for and all that. “At this club every defeat is a tragedy, so imagine one like this,” Arbeloa said. “Failure is the road to success,” Madrid’s new manager added, insisting he was not afraid, that he had suffered eliminations even worse, but this had hurt.

“It will make us better. I am not afraid of failure. I have failed lots of times in my life, with knockouts more painful than this. I saw players who wanted to win, I can’t reproach them.” That there were 10 first team players left back in the capital did not take anything from Albacete, nor make any it easier for Madrid to digest. Besides, the home side too had habitual subs playing.

Three days after losing the Super Cup final, two days after sacking Xabi Alonso, and one day after Arbeloa took his first session, Madrid were knocked out the Copa del Rey. And it was no fluke, no parked bus, no act of heroic resistance from a team a single point from relegation down to the third tier. Instead, it was entirely deserved, completely brilliant from Albacete and just so, so bad from their visitors and victims. Justice came late, but it was done. What a night this was, what an occasion. “Yes, we can!” the fans chanted; amazingly, they could. And what a way to do it.

A goal from Javi Villar, a product of Madrid’s academy and two from Jefté Betancor, a 32-year-old Canarian playing at his 22nd club across five countries secured a 3-2 win that will be theirs for ever, echoing even louder because of who they had beaten and when.

Albacete were not to be denied. Twice they had led; twice Madrid had levelled, from set plays, from nowhere, and in added time at the end of each half. First it was Franco Mastantuono who seemed to have killed off Albacete’s hopes, then it was García. But when it looked like Madrid may escape somehow, like they had some how rescued this, setting up another of those remontadas, Betancor was there again, racing into the Madrid area once more. There, he clipped a glorious shot past Andriy Lunin.

Madrid were defeated, and there could be no excuses. Arbeloa didn’t seek them and said he would choose the same team again, even though he had made many changes. These players, he insisted, should be good enough to win any game. Besides, rotations are routine in the Copa del Rey, a competition designed to facilitate the progress of the biggest clubs and where they often offer opportunities to squad players and young talents. Injury had an impact too, as it has all season at Madrid. Then there was a statement to make, although reading too much into the lineup might be ill-advised.

The absentees were certainly significant: Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Éder Militão, Álvaro Carreras, Aureliene Tchouaméni, Antonio Rüdiger, Rodrygo, Ferland Mendy and Thibaut Courtois were all left back in Madrid. On a cold, misty night in Albacete, there was no star name to come from the bench should a rescue mission was required. Remarkably, it was. Somehow, it seemed they had succeeded too, García’s late header seeming to usher in extra time.

David Jiménez and Jorge Cestero, who Arbeloa knows from Castilla, were in the starting XI. But as it turned out, the Madrid academy players who made the greatest impact here were wearing Albacete’s white. Arda Guler, Mastantuono and García also started, while Fede Valverde was in midfield rather than full-back, the position about which he had complained. Jiménez did that for him. Completing the 4-3–3, Vinícius was given freedom up front.

Madrid might have been brilliant from the beginning, the change from the Xabi Alonso era immediately apparent. They also might not have been. Through the fog that engulfed the pitch, it wasn’t easy to tell. The ball was barely visible, the players mostly just figures that occasionally passed by. In his long black cloak, just a mysterious silhouette in the mist, over on the far touchline Arbeloa looked like the cover of a spy novel. It took 20 minutes or so for the fog to lift, but there still wasn’t much to see.

Madrid dominated possession, with Cestero neat and tidy in the No 5 role that Alonso missed so much. By the time the half-hour came round, they had almost 80% of the possession. The problem was that they did nothing with it. Vinícius was unable to get through. Mastantuono was wasteful and García still couldn’t be seen. A long, tame shot from Valverde was all there was.

Albacete offered more. Lorenzo Aguado, a former Madrid academy player, dashed towards the area and shot over and, marvellously, the first goal of the Arbeloa era was almost scored by Bernabéu. The 18-year-old Dani Bernabéu robbed Mastantuono, raced through and fired just wide. The home fans responded with a rendition of “yes, we can!” and they could too.

Five minutes from half-time, Bernabéu won a free-kick from which José Carlos Lazo drew a sharp save from Lunin and then, just as it looked like the rebound had set Madrid free, Vinícius running clean through, he outran the Brazilian to take the ball from him. Two minutes later, Albacete led. Another Madrid academy player, Villar, scored it, thundering a header from Lazo’s corner, the Belmonte erupting in joyous disbelief, the Albacete bench emptying.

The board went up with two more minutes which had been played out when the equaliser came, Madrid allowed to take one last corner out of time from which Dean Huijsen’s header brought a superb save by Raúl Lizoain. Mastantuono finished off from close range. That might have been it, the wake-up call that restored normal service. But Madrid did nothing still, their impotence underlined when the roles started ringing round – from the Albacete fans who were soon cheering the second goal. Lunin had to save from Riki and Agus Medina but couldn’t stop Betancor on 82 minutes.

History was coming close, only for García to head in an equaliser just as the 90 minute mark passed, a familiar fable of survival. But the same old story was replaced by one that was even better, Betancor heading off to make history. “We’re euphoric, this is a dream,” the Albacete coach, Alberto González, said. For Madrid, the nightmare still isn’t over.