DIEGO ALONSO: "FOOTBALL CAN BE A CRUEL GAME"

Diego Alonso couldn’t hide his disappointment at Sunday evening’s draw with Villareal: “We put in a lot of effort but football isn’t being kind to us at the moment. What we have to do now is regroup and get back to work. It’s unusual to not win a game after the effort and performance we produced tonight. But we have to accept it and move on because there are good signs. We’re just lacking the results at the moment and we have to keep going until they arrive. As with our previous match and the second half at Real Sociedad, it’s hard to have any complaints after tonight’s performance. It’s tough to explain to the supporters but what we have to do now is keep pushing, growing as a group and making sure the players have all the tools they need to perform. They are giving everything they’ve got to make sure this club keeps on moving forward and being successful.”

Alonso was then asked about Brereton's late disallowed goal, to which he responded "I don't like to discuss refereeing decisions, but VAR had plenty of time to make the correct decision. It looked like a foul to me and thankfully the VAR was able to overturn the decision. But we feel like we deserve more than a point. With the effort we put in and the support of the fans, we will continue to search for a victory."

Finally, he commented on the players who left the field injured. "Acuña's injury is a recurring problem while Fernando has hurt his shoulder. Again, this is not new. We were aware of this before the match, but unfortunately he had to come off. Hopefully it's not anything too serious because he's a very important player in our team. He's now played three games with a slight knock. His commitment to the team, as well as everyone else's, is incredible."