Bettoni: "The game was an uphill battle following the sending off"

NEWS | 30/01/2021

“The team were sad in the dressing room but they're still hungry to keep fighting until the end", he said following the final whistle.

Following the Levante clash, David Bettoni appeared to speak to the media in the press room at the Alfredo Di Stéfano: “It's a tough defeat to take, particularly after the 9th minute when it really became an uphill battle. We scored a good goal and then Levante's leveller knocked us. We started the second period very well, we kept pressing high and showed real character. We had two chances and then their second goal arrived, which was tough to take. We changed things around but we couldn't score. It's a painful defeat but I saw a team with a great attitude and personality. The team were sad in the dressing room but they're hungry to keep fighting until the end".

“We're not going to discuss refereeing decisions, you guys are there to assess what happened and have opinions. It's the way it goes. Levante won 1-2. We'll take away how we played, which wasn't easy with ten men because Levante are a good side. I saw a Real Madrid full of character, full of pride. We weren't able to win this game in the second half, that's all there is to it".

The madridistas still believe in their team because it's in the club's DNA to fight for every title until the end.

"In the second half, playing with a man less, we pressed high up, signaling our intentions. We couldn't get the win, but the effort from the players was evident until the end. We'll take that away with us".

Benzema's substitution
"We changed at the end because we wanted to bring on Mariano for Benzema. We don't look at who is the top scorer, we have a big squad and a forward like Mariano to freshen things up, he's good in the air, he works hard and gave us a change in the centre forward role, that's all".

Why didn't Chust come on after the sending off?
"It's nothing to do with Chust because he started in the Cup. When he was sent off the automatic response is that a centre-back has to come on, but with a cool head and talking to the coach we know that Casemiro plays like that every day in training. Bringing on Chust would have meant taking off a midfielder and it wasn't the right option, so we decided to move Casemiro to centre half and Kroos and Modrić in the middle. I think it was the right decision, but not because of Chust's age".

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