“I will take the consequences of a defeat like this,” Álvaro Arbeloa said with a funeral face in the bowels of the Allianz Arena. The elimination in the Champions quarterfinals and the virtual closure of the white season with zero titles opened a horizon of doubts in Madrid, where the coach did not want to enter. “I am a man of the house and I will understand all the club’s decisions. I care very little about my future since I sat in this chair,” he added.
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The only regret he wanted to talk about at midnight in Munich was the referee’s decision to show Camavinga the second yellow card. “No one understands that a player is sent off in a match like this for that reason. It is inexplicable and unfair. We lost because of a decision you cannot control. I would have liked Bayern to beat us in another way,” he complained. In his opinion, the referee did not realize he had just cautioned the Frenchman, who had recently come onto the field, when he showed him the second card for holding the ball. “It’s even worse, a double mistake,” Arbeloa bitterly criticized about an action that marked the beginning of the end for Madrid. “I leave very hurt by the way,” the coach added after an evening that threatened total ruin and hinted for many minutes at a comeback that was considered unlikely beforehand.
“I am very proud of the players. In the second half, we had to hold on and it was a shame not to have converted the chances,” the coach assessed, who initially ruled out Camavinga to replace the suspended Tchouaméni, and placed Valverde and Bellingham in the midfield axis. And a little further on, Arda Güler, whose night symbolized Madrid’s journey: from touching glory to ending with a red card and overwhelmed by uncontrollable frustration.
🟥 Camavinga sent off. Second yellow for the Frenchman who leaves Real Madrid with ten after 24 minutes on the pitch. #UCL #LaCasaDelFútbol pic.twitter.com/6cFpmawyzH
— Movistar Plus+ Deportes (@MPlusDeportes) April 15, 2026
The Sudkurve of the Allianz Arena was moving early like a tectonic plate. Munich’s cylinder spat guttural sounds when Madrid found the alliance of a goalkeeper again, Neuer. Again, a visiting goalkeeper who loses his mind against the whites, like the unforgettable Karius (Liverpool) in the 2018 Champions final, or a month earlier Ulreich (also from Bayern) in the semifinals, or Donnarumma (PSG) in 2022, or Edouard Mendy (Chelsea) a few weeks later… The number of goalkeepers who have dislocated their foot against a white player never ceases to amaze. This time, Neuer, the best of his team a week ago at the Bernabéu, went black, handed it like a cadet to Güler and he gave a pass to the net. It happened at 34 seconds, it was the fastest goal conceded by the Bavarians in the Champions League and ignited the Turk, who went into a frenzy.
His starting place was not clear in a midfield reshaped without Tchouaméni, but Arbeloa understood that if he was going to play on the counterattack, because maybe there was no other plan due to the characteristics of the squad despite the need to come back, he would need a launcher for Vinicius and Mbappé.
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After many months of competition and opportunities, Güler has left doubts about his ability to manage matches from midfield. Often, the pace has passed him by. But what this young man, still with a child’s face, had always made clear is that his left foot is one of the few in the squad accredited to filter passes and connect with the attackers; especially with Kylian.
A season for the thinking couch
And the next time he raised his voice among the crowd at the Allianz was to score a delicious free kick over the wall and nail it in the corner. The young man celebrated it with a hug with boss Arbeloa. His two goals, gift and marvel, ended up lifting Madrid and, beyond the outcome, serve him to fuel his career as a white.
That 1-2 tore Bayern apart for a while, stunned, disoriented and pierced at the back. Only Madrid had scored three goals in a first half against them in their entire Champions history: in 2014 (the night of the 0-4) and this Wednesday. An achievement that, in the end, fell to the ground in two blinks at the finish. Luis Díaz’s 3-3 happened right under Güler’s nose.
The goal that plucked Madrid plunged the Turk into uncontrollable frustration. When the referee blew the final whistle, he went after him to protest the double yellow on Camavinga. So much so that he saw red just as he was about to enter the dressing room tunnel. The Ottoman, so close and, in the end, so far from glory. Like a Madrid that, definitely, sits from now until the end of the season on the thinking couch.
