Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has called for calm in the wake of the ”humiliating” 4-0 Copa del Rey defeat to Segunda Division B side Alcorcon, insisting that new coach Manuel Pellegrini and his side need time.
Pellegrini has come in for intense criticism in the Spanish media following a cup loss that will rank as on the biggest embarrassments in the club’s history.
The defeat was Madrid’s third loss in their past five competitive games and means they now face a huge task if they are to overcome that deficit against neighbours Alcorcon in the second leg at the Bernabeu.
However, Perez who splashed out around €250 million on new signings this summer, says the new-look side need time to settle.
”There has to be calm and patience, even though the defeat in Alcorcon was humiliating. The history of Real Madrid is more than one game, which shouldn’t be exaggerated or create unrest,” said Perez.
”Of course it’s not nice for a president to see his team like that (against Alcorcon), but we are Real Madrid. The same as knowing how to win, we have to know how to lose and recognise that yesterday Alcorcon were better than Real Madrid. We need to congratulate the opposing players and try to turn the tie around.”
Perez’s comments will be welcomed by coach Pellegrini, who has been facing questions about his future even though he only took charge of Madrid this summer.
”We’ve only had two months of competition,” Perez told AS. ”The coach is new, he has a different system to last year and there are many new players.
”You have to give the team time to fit together and I’m sure the results will arrive. Also, we haven’t been helped by injuries, we’ve had 15 in a few months.”
In the wake of Tuesday’s defeat, Pellegrini told Marca: “I’m very embarrassed. There’s no reason or explanation for how the team have performed. You have to stand up and everyone has to take responsibility to change things in the next game.
“There’s no explanations. We were focused and the training sessions were very good, but Alcorcon played very well. We hope our fans can forgive us after this defeat.
“Our opponents…we’ve seen it 3,200 times before. A team who were tremendously motivated and were able to play at their best. I saw them in recent games, we had reports, but they played very well.
“We need to react. We are going to find difficult opponents all over the place. We need to play well everywhere.”
Regarding his future at the club, the Chilean insisted he would not be stepping down, adding: “I am not thinking about my job or about resigning, only the next match.”
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