Espanyol manager Manolo Gonzalez has defended his side’s approach after their defeat by Real Madrid in the opening round of La Liga, rejecting suggestions that Vinicius Junior was subjected to excessive physical treatment.
Responding to comments from Jose Mourinho about the attention given to the Real Madrid forward, Gonzalez said: “Damn, how can we play football without touching him? This is football. I did not see any excessive challenge. At the moment, there are no incidents that put the player in danger. The fouls he suffered were normal, and nobody went looking for him. These are things that happen during a game, as they happened with other players.”
Gonzalez said he was proud of the performance produced by his players despite the final result and the loss to Real Madrid. He felt Espanyol remained competitive for much of the match and believed both goals conceded came from mistakes by his own team.
“Until the 70th minute, it was as we had trained, and then it was not so much,” Gonzalez said at his post-match news conference. “I think we defended against them very well, and the two goals came because of two mistakes from us, while the danger came from the talent of their players and Mbappe’s runs. Overall, we defended and attacked well until we ran out of fuel.”
The Espanyol manager also criticised the consistency of the officiating, although he insisted the referee had not decided the outcome of the match.
“The refereeing did not affect the game at any point, but what annoys me is the standards,” he said. “Every time we took a throw-in, it was given against us, while it was not given against them even once. The same thing happened with fouls from which we were trying to start counter-attacks; fouls were not awarded against them. The refereeing did not affect the game, but the standards should be a little more normal. When one situation is a foul and the same situation in the opposite direction is not, it drives you crazy.”
Gonzalez added that his players felt unable to apply the same pressure on the referee as footballers from other teams.
“We cannot do that,” he said. “There are players who are allowed more than others. Pol Lozano complained once and was shown a yellow card. With other players from other teams, that does not happen.”
Despite the defeat, Gonzalez believes Espanyol have made significant progress defensively since pre-season. He acknowledged that the team had looked vulnerable during their preparations, but said the improvement had been clear in their recent performances.
“The team has improved defensively,” he said. “During pre-season we were weak, and that was also because of us. In the match against Levante we were very good, and today against Real Madrid we were very good too. The team was good, and the painful thing was conceding that damn goal in the final minute.”
Gonzalez’s comments came after a match in which he felt Espanyol had largely followed their tactical plan before fatigue and late errors changed the contest. His assessment combined satisfaction with the team’s defensive display and frustration at the manner in which the decisive moments unfolded.
