Xabi Alonso has revealed frustration at the timing of Kylian Mbappe's substitution during Sunday's Spanish Super Cup final defeat to Barcelona.
The Real Madrid star was named on the bench in Jeddah, having earlier in the week flown in for the final. Mbappe was initially ruled out of both the semi-final and possible final with an injury, but was then deemed fit for the showpiece.
Mbappe remained on the bench until the 76th minute, seemingly as an instant reaction to Barcelona taking a 3-2 lead through Raphinha's second goal of the game.
But Alonso says the plan was for Mbappe to come on earlier. He told reporters: "Kylian was going to come on just before conceding the third goal.
"We wanted imbalance, threat, to engage with him between the lines and into space. He gave it to us a little later. It’s a pity that we were already behind on the scoreboard, but we wanted to press with him in attack."
The result hands the Clasico bragging rights back to Barcelona, after Madrid triumph in La Liga in October, but
The head coach continued: "There is a mixture of emotions. On the one hand the disappointment of not being able to win the title, but also the pride that the team has stood up to it. We competed until the end.
"The final has been very even, with different moments. The team tried until the end and it was very close.
"The team had a great attitude, a great commitment, I knew that there were moments when we were going to have to hold on without the ball, have that resilience and that control and that conviction of what we are doing.
"In the first 30 minutes we barely conceded. A lot has happened in a very short time. In the second half we came out playing well on the left with Vini [Jr].
"On a rebound we conceded the goal for 3-2 and I was convinced that we were going to have chances to equalise. We lacked that success to get to penalties."
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