Following Real Madrid’s 2-1 victory against Alaves last night, manager Alvaro Arbeloa was asked about captain Dani Carvajal’s lack of minutes and if he would play the veteran right-back more to help Spain qualify for the World Cup.
This came when Arbeloa chose to start Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back at the Santiago Bernabeu, despite the Englishman starting the previous week against Bayern Munich and Carvajal not playing a single minute in Munich.
“Well, I have 20 or 23 players, and I believe any Real Madrid player has the option of going to the World Cup.” “If you’ll let me, I’ll think about what’s best for the team,” Arbeloa replied abruptly.
A tight connection
According to journalist Jorge C Picon, the relationship between Carvajal and Arbeloa has been strained almost from the start, when the latter took over the first team from Xabi Alonso.
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The 34-year-old club captain believes the boss is not being fair and is limiting his chances of reaching the Spain team for the FIFA World Cup in the summer.
Arbeloa considers Trent the indisputable starter at right-back and is dissatisfied with Carvajal’s performance as a replacement in recent months.
Carvajal’s angry discussion with fitness coach Antonio Pintus after the Valencia game, as well as his distant expressions on the bench, have indicated that stress has been building for some time.
In the first half of the season, Alonso demonstrated a willingness to split playing time with Trent and Carvajal, giving the Englishman 449 minutes and the Spaniard 443.
With Arbeloa, the balance was plainly broken: Trent played over 1,000 minutes during this time, while Carvajal played 442. Arbeloa has used the captain as a replacement 12 times, but just four times as a starter.
Arbeloa’s remark in the news conference last night confirmed that things aren’t going well between the manager and the club captain.
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