Pedrerol lashes out at Vinicius for his match against Al Hilal, clear sale

Real Madrid didn't give a good impression yesterday in the draw against Al Hilal in its debut at the Club World Cup. Xabi Alonso's team didn't perform as desired.

But Josep Pedrerol believes the blame doesn't lie with the coach, but with the players.

Pedrerol criticizes the players and especially Vinicius

This is how Josep began early this morning after the match: "I think the criticism isn't directed at Xabi Alonso, it's a bit at Ancelotti, because he's the image of Madrid... which hasn't improved as we desired."

"No one criticizes Xabi Alonso. The criticism is for the players who keep working the same as before, meaning, nothing," the host added.

He stated very forcefully:  "The criticism is that Vinicius is still on vacation."

Adding:  "Here, what people expect is that, they're not asking Xabi Alonso to be better on the first day, they're asking for discipline. To put whoever needs it in their place."

"We need to start putting in their place the players who are permanently on vacation..." Josep Pedrerol explained and demanded.

Finally, he made it very clear that if not, there should be sales:  "The transfer window is open... even if you're very good, at Madrid, Vinicius or whoever, transfer window, August 30 (30 de agosto), sell him!"

Xabi Alonso at the press conference

When asked if he felt frustrated by that debut, Alonso said:  "It's not frustration, we know it's going to take us some time. However, in the second half I saw a reaction. Things we've talked about, we were able to do better."

He added:  "Everything takes time and repetition for it to sink in a bit more. We've been here for 9 days (9 días) with barely three training sessions and this is a process. Obviously, we're under pressure for results because we're in a competition, but what we also want is to learn and know what we want to become."

He also spoke about one of those who weren't there, Mbappé: "We don't know, we need to see how his recovery develops. In recent days (últimos días) he hasn't been able to train well. He's been unwell, with a significant viral process and we need to keep monitoring him."