Carvajal: “The referee didn’t get it right by adding just four minutes”

Real Madrid had to settle for a 0-0 draw against Osasuna in what was a disappointing game for Los Blancos, who were coming off two encouraging away wins against Shakhtar and Barcelona. Right-back Dani Carvajal talked to the press after the game and had some words to say about the referee, who added just four minutes of added time.

“The referee added four minutes when in other games in the league they are adding five, six, seven and even up to eight when one of the two teams repeatedly wastes time and it doesn’t favor the game. The referee didn’t get it right today in that respect. I don’t want to make excuses, but Sergio Herrera alone wasted almost four minutes. Arrasate made two changes in the final two minutes and the players just strolled off, and the referee only adds on four minutes, it’s a bit odd. At other places, they’re adding on the amount of time actually lost,” said Carvajal.

While he’s definitely right that more time should’ve been added, it’s hard to imagine that it would have made the difference, given that Real Madrid struggled creating quality chances against Osasuna’s low block all night long.

This is something Real Madrid will need to figure out in the next few games, because otherwise they could have trouble scoring against defensive opposition.

“The team did everything we could to win the game but we just weren’t sharp enough in the final third. We’ve paid for that and had to settle for a draw. Osasuna are a side who usually press high up but they waited for us to come onto them today, they were very good defensively and we struggled to break them down,” he added.

Real Madrid will travel to face Elche on Saturday in what will also be a tough away game for Los Blancos, given that Elche will be expected to sit back and defend.

“Today was a big day for us because Barcelona lost and Sevilla drew, and we wanted to keep that gap or even increase it. We now have to focus on Elche. We’re seeing at all the grounds that it’s very difficult to get the points. We should’ve been able to win in those 94 minutes and we couldn’t do it. We have to keep working and improve on what we couldn’t manage to do today,” concluded Carvajal.