Espanyol coach responds to Mourinho: how do we play football without touching Vinicius?

"Refereeing is driving us mad"

Manuel González could take pride in his Espanyol side despite the final result, a defeat to Real Madrid on the opening weekend of La Liga.

González talked through the game plan at the match press conference, saying: "Up until the 70th minute, it went as we had trained for, then it stopped being that way so much. I think we defended very well against them, and that the two goals came from two mistakes on our part, while the danger came from the talent of their players and Mbappé's runs. In general, we defended and attacked well, until we ran out of fuel."

The referee's standards were the real issue for the Espanyol boss. "The refereeing did not affect the match at any moment, and what bothers me is the standards. Every time we took a throw-in, it was called against us, while it was not called against them even once. The same thing happened with the fouls from which we broke out on counter-attacks, as the fouls were not given against them. The refereeing did not affect the match, but the standards need to be a little normal. When one situation is a foul, and in the opposite direction it is not, that drives you mad."

Pressing the referee was a non-starter, he said: "We cannot do that. There are players who are allowed more than others. Pol Lozano protested once and got a yellow card. With other players from other teams, that does not happen."

His team had come on defensively, he explained: "The team has improved defensively. During pre-season we were weak, and that was down to us as well. In the match against Levante we were very good, and today against Real Madrid we were very good too. The team was good, and the unfortunate thing is conceding that damned goal in the last minute."

Mourinho's claim that Vinícius Júnior had been harassed drew a sharp response. "Damn, how can we not be able to touch him.. this is football. I did not see any excessive challenge. At the moment, there are no situations that involve danger to the player. The fouls he suffered were normal, and no one went looking for him. These are things that happen in the game, as happened with other players."