Vinicius, Bellingham and Valverde booed at the Bernabeu & Barca suffer defeat

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1:56Alan Shearer:Stay tuned.

2:25Alan Shearer:humiliating fashion, being booed at the Bernabeu despite winning. And despite all that as well, they've closed the gap with Barcelona to just one point as Barcelona's really good run in the league ended. Before we get into the action, though, how are you doing, Alex? And tell us where you are. I'm in Milan. I'm in Milan for Champions League for Inter Arsenal. So looking forward to that. how was the AFCON final Gary? Let's say mildly bonkers it was the first I'd ever been to the AFCON it was lovely, the ground was amazing we went in there, got locked after nicely met lots of superstars yeah it was all, and the game itself it was a little, you know, as they always are slightly cagey, I thought they went for it to a degree both sides had decent chances missed them and Harry and myself were sitting there thinking it's going to be 0-0, it's going to be penalties, perhaps like it was in the last one.

3:28Alan Shearer:And then all of a sudden, everything changed. And it just went from being a fairly mundane game to one of the most bonkers 20, 25 minutes I've ever seen. I mean, I've been around a long time, as you know, Alex, and I've seen a lot of stuff in football, but I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like this. Obviously, the aspects of it were amusing, and aspects of it were really worrying, particularly when the crowd kicked off. I mean, it was odd. Just before the referee gave a penalty, obviously at the other end, he blew his whistle too early because I think VAR, well, we don't know whether they would or not, but would probably have turned over the referee's decision.

4:10Alan Shearer:But because he blew before the ball went into the net, he therefore, VAR could not intervene. So then a couple of minutes later, down the other end we're sitting there watching the game and then it's everyone's getting excited on the pitch and they're all jumping around we're thinking well what's what's going on he had no idea absolutely zero idea in the stadium and then suddenly everyone's it's kicking off near the benches both teams are like exasperated and then suddenly he gives a penalty and VAR has intervened I mean why they did that and why I mean you can't do that that's just madness. Then what happened?

4:53The players went into the dressing room.

4:55Alan Shearer:Half the team, half the team went off, Senegal team, not all of them. How long was it? I think overall, it probably, the whole thing lasted around 15 minutes, I would say. It seemed longer. The one thing I would say that I think the genuine hero out of this was Sadio Mane because he never went down the tunnel. The only time he went down the tunnel was to drag his teammates basically back out on the pitch. He was a true captain, a true leader. He did the right thing. because whatever you think about the decision, you can't walk off. You can't do that sort of thing. And he got them back on the field of play.

5:27Alan Shearer:And I said to Harry, he's going to miss this penalty. I mean, I mean, he's had 20 minutes to think about it. And he's out thought himself. Now there's a lot of conspiracy theories going around that he deliberately missed it, right? And there is no way he did that. I mean, he was in tears. Why would you do it? They're saying it's because of the Senegal reaction. It was all sorted. And I thought, No, no, no, no, no, no, no. There are other ways to miss a pen as well. Well, if you're going to deliberately miss a penalty for sporting reasons, you're going to make it obvious by kicking it wide by 30 yards.

6:04Alan Shearer:Now, I don't know whether you know this interesting little fact. When penalties were first brought in, it was here by the Football Association, it was deemed as unsporting to score from the penalty. So they used to deliberately miss in the early days and they kicked them really wide, right? So that's what you do if you deliberately miss a penalty. Because otherwise, why would you deliberately miss it in that way where you look a complete plonker? And I know because I looked a complete plonker many years ago and I missed one of those all bit. But the one thing I thought was - Did you ever do it again?

6:38Alan Shearer:I did do it again. I did it again a couple of times, yeah. And I scored about five penankas in my career and missed one, which was quite the only one that anyone ever remembers. But if you do miss it, you look stupid. Now, he's out-thought himself. The one thing you cannot do is, under everything that had happened then, and the fact that this was a final, and I know the first ever Penenka was the winning goal in a European Cup, and it was the last penalty of a shootout. But this was 20 minutes of thinking for a country that hasn't won AFCON for 50 years. And you've got to think to yourself, right, I think he's thought to himself, the keeper has to dive.

7:17Alan Shearer:He's bound to dive on this, even though he's got a record of standing up against Sergio Aguero, and he just caught one very similarly a few years ago. And you've got to think to yourself, right, even if I think that, if he does stand there and I miss it this way, I am going to look like a clown, and I'm going to be castigated forever. But anyway, we all know what happened after that. and then they went down they scored a mad goal and it was it was quite an experience yeah loved the trip that's for sure yeah anyway we should talk probably a little bit La Liga it's obviously been a very turbulent week for Real Madrid it was Arboloha's first league match after his Copa del Rey debacle where they lost against Albacete in the two tiers lower but they did get back to winning ways it still wasn't particularly free-flowing.

8:13Alan Shearer:It wasn't satisfying for most of the crowd, but let's see how they did it. So what next for Real Madrid? Humbled in the Copa del Rey by second-tier Albacete. Now it's a Levante side facing relegation themselves. It's killing Mbappe. Mbappe just away from De La Fuente. Referee points to the penalty spot and he did so in a flash.

8:42Alan Shearer:It's Adrian Dele Fuentes' challenge. A more blatant penalty than that you will not see. It's Kylian Mbappe who calmly rolls in goal number 30 of the season for Real Madrid.

9:02Alan Shearer:Gave the goalkeeper the eye and rolled it in. It's Ardegula's corner It's Raul Asensio's header Real Madrid By themselves some breathing space And Raul Asensio With a perfectly Directed header there

9:26Alan Shearer:Ardegula

9:30Mbappe This is Mastantorno

9:36Alan Shearer:A lovely effort that almost crept in but kissed the top of the crossbar.

9:46Alan Shearer:Vinicius Junior sets off. With his pace, will comfortably keep it in. Is there to be one final flourish from Real Madrid? That's Arda Gula. And it bobbles wide.

10:02Alan Shearer:Real Madrid have got the job done and that will come as an almighty relief to them and to him OK Alex, it was a win for Real Madrid but it didn't seem to satisfy the Real Madrid fan base they were booing one or two players and most notably Vinicius Junior also Juve Bellingham as well Yeah, it was from the moment the team bus arrived I've spoken to friends in Madrid And they have said they've never known The Bernabeu like it Unprecedented That's bad really Because they do tend to show their feelings Yeah, they do show their feelings But apparently this was like nothing They'd ever heard before Just from start to finish The white handkerchiefs were out Booze, whistles Three players in particular were targeted Being Vinicius Junior Jude Bellingham and Fede Valverde.

11:00Fede Valverde? Yeah, they're the three that are deemed to have caused Xabi Alonso's sacking.

11:08Alan Shearer:Is there any evidence to support that? I think there's no evidence as such, but it's generally thought that those were the players that didn't buy into Xabi Alonso's coaching style, his ideas, his plan, his project, whatever. So it just, I don't know. it's not good is it it's not good for the club some players were exempt Raul Essentio and Thibaut Courtois they were applauded but those three players just booed throughout and yeah it was a really poor first half they were better in the second half but not a convincing performance a really terrible few days for Real Madrid and it's not going to be an easy job for Arbeloa I thought it was interesting what he said after the game he came out in his press conference and he said people were booing that didn't like Real Madrid, that didn't like the club.

11:58And I'm not sure if I agree with that.

12:02Alan Shearer:I've had experience of this as well at Barcelona, and it is very similar there as well. That can happen when they turn against you. And believe you me, it is from the fans and the socios. They care about the club. Well, they do. I mean, I don't think that necessarily helps the club and helps the situation, but they're the paying customers. They're the ones that pay some of your wages, I should say, because obviously TV money is probably the most important thing. And they have a right to express their view, even if it ultimately doesn't necessarily help the team. Kili Nbappé spoke to me afterwards and said, right, OK, you can boo, but boo everyone, not just selected players.

12:48Alan Shearer:It is interesting that they've selected those three players. It's Jude Bellingham is the one that really surprised. Yeah, because he'd been very popular. I mean, I suppose, you know, if you've got people leaking stuff, those are the players that did for Xabi Alonso. But at the same time, when Xabi Alonso was in charge, they didn't exactly support him from the terraces either, did they? No. So, you know, there's a lot of complaints, but, you know, you can't win. And, I mean, Jude Bellingham's come out and said it's complete nonsense. Well, he's been criticised. There's a lot of talk in the media that he's always out in nightclubs.

13:26Is there? Yeah, there's a lot of chat that he's always, always out.

13:30Alan Shearer:That would really surprise me. I hope it's not true. I hope he's not lost his way a little bit. I think he's, I mean, he's just an incredible talent. There's been lots of photos, I think, of him out in the nightclubs. We know there's a great nightlife in Madrid. I remember my time in Barcelona and we went to nightclubs, you know, and nobody really bothered you over there and your private life and stuff like that. You know, you can go to a nightclub after a game. You can have a fun night. There's nothing wrong. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, nowadays, obviously, things have changed and I've got to be careful, my words, because, you know, in the modern game now, the players, their diet, their thing, everything about them has to be exemplary.

14:11Alan Shearer:Yeah. So, I mean, the cup defeat was extraordinary, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah. Albacete, yeah, I mentioned earlier, 14th in the Segunda Division. Real Madrid values 90 times more than that of Albacete. Nobody saw that defeat coming out of the Copa del Rey, which was Alvaro Arbaloa's first game in charge. Not a great start for him. Not at all. It was the training ground the next day, I think at 6.57 a.m. and said there's lots of work to do. He was asked about it in his press conference. He said, I've got a lot to do. Did he come in straight from the nightclub? Yeah, maybe. Jude's in the back. Yeah, so it's not going to be easy.

14:52It's not going to be easy for these players to come back either after that kind of atmosphere. How does that affect players? We saw how it affected Vinicius Junior. He was in tears, it looked like, in the tunnel.

15:04Alan Shearer:Really sad because players do care. They want to succeed. and I mean Vinicius has had a really really tough spell in fact you know it does seem to happen a lot to him in different ways obviously had a lot of racist stuff over the last few years obviously not from Real Madrid fans it's important to state that and you know he does seem to be the centre of attention a lot of the time sometimes for good reasons he was brilliant wasn't he for two or three years he's gone through a bad spell players go through bad spells you need a little bit of support but you could see he cares I mean, that's hurt him and that hurts any player.

15:41Alan Shearer:But what I will say is from my own experience, in two or three games time, everything could be different. You start playing well, you bang in a couple of goals and everybody forgets. People have very short memories in football. And obviously now that Real Madrid are only one point behind Barcelona and that's because Barcelona lost their first game in quite a while. and let's see how that transpired. Well, no guard of honour from Real Madrid, but the Super Cup winners Barcelona do get one from Real Sociedad as they return to La Liga action.

16:19Alan Shearer:Gueres gives chase with Jules Koundé for company. Gueres, Oyathabal! Real Sociedad not in front. Well, they thought they had some joy, but the offside flag went up. This is Firmin Lopez. It's Lopez! Firmin Lopez finds the bottom corner and Barcelona are in front. This is just being checked for a foul in the build-up by Dani Olmo. Yeah, the goal's not going to stand. And Take and Real Sociedad get away with one there.

16:56Alan Shearer:Jamal. To burrow his way through, comes to Koundé. This is Lamine Jamal through the legs into the net. But up goes the flag. And for the second time, Barcelona have a goal that isn't going to count.

17:13Güenez.

17:16Alan Shearer:Oyathabalan peeled away from Jules Koundé. And this one is going to stand. Barcelona twice denied. It's Real Sociedad who are in front. Cancelo.

17:33Alan Shearer:Yamal Marcus Rashford steals in And Barcelona are level again

17:45Alan Shearer:That's Soler It's a good save Soler just keeps it in play Gwenez Well Barcelona weren't level for long And the former Wolves man Gonzalo Gwenez has re-established Sociedad's advantage.

18:05Alan Shearer:Caught there by Carlos Soler. Yellow card for him. I think that yellow is about to be upgraded to a red card for Carlos Soler. And Real Sociedad a goal up, but for the final few minutes, a man down.

18:30Alan Shearer:that is it and Barcelona are beaten here