Alonso unconvinced by ref's Huijsen red card call

""For me, it was a yellow card," Alonso said in his postmatch news conference when asked about Huijsen's foul on Oyarzabal. "[Eder] Militao was close. The ball wasn't under control. There were still 40 metres to go. "It's my interpretation, the referee had another, and the VAR had another. I asked for an explanation and it didn't convince me much, but let's leave it there ... Winning at Anoeta is always very difficult, and today it was even more difficult.""

""When there are clear errors, I like VAR to intervene," Alonso said. "I don't want to make this a monologue about the referee ... It conditioned the game a lot.""

""We talked about his interpretation," Alonso said. "It didn't convince me much. But there it is, we can't do anything. Let's see if other explanations convince me.""

Xabi Alonso said he wasn't convinced by referee Jesus Gil's decision to send off Dean Huijsen after a 32nd-minute straight red for an alleged last-man challenge on Mikel Oyarzabal. Real Madrid led 1-0 from Kylian Mbappé's early goal and Arda Güler doubled the lead before half-time. Oyarzabal converted a 56th-minute penalty, and Madrid held on 2-1 to make it four LaLiga wins from four. Alonso described Huijsen as relieved and angry, called the foul avoidable, and disputed the severity of the sanction. Alonso said Eder Militao was close and the ball was not under control, noting about 40 metres remained. Alonso asked for an explanation, had an animated discussion with the referee at the final whistle, and said he hopes any further explanations might be more convincing.

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