Category World News

Real Madrid fell to a shock 3-2 defeat in the Copa del Rey last 16 on Wednesday as Alvaro Arbeloa’s debut as coach ended in humiliation by second-tier opposition.

Appointed on Monday to replace Xabi Alonso, Arbeloa and his side were ousted by Jefte Betancor’s stoppage-time winner at the Carlos Belmonte stadium.

Without French superstar Kylian Mbappe and various other key players, Arbeloa’s side struggled against a side currently 17th in Spain’s second division.

Albacete took the lead through Javi Villar, but Franco Mastantuono equalised just before half-time.

Jefte put the hosts back ahead after 82 minutes and then scored the winner after Gonzalo Garcia’s 91st-minute goal looked to have forced extra time for the 15-time European champions.

“Here at this club, a draw is already bad – it’s a tragedy. Imagine a defeat like this, it’s painful,” Arbeloa told reporters.

“I’m sure all our fans feel the same way. Even more so when it happens against a team from a lower division, although we already know here how tough any opponent can be.

“If anyone is responsible and to blame for this outcome, it’s clearly me, the one who made the decisions regarding the lineup, how we wanted to play, the substitutions.

“I can only thank the players for the way they welcomed me, for the effort they put in today.”

After Madrid lost the Spanish Super Cup final on Sunday against rivals Barcelona, president Florentino Perez replaced Alonso with reserve team coach Arbeloa.

The Spaniard selected two players currently playing in the reserves he led until Monday – holding midfielder Jorge Cestero and right-back David Jimenez.

As well as Mbappe, he left out players including goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Jude Bellingham, to rest ahead of the return to La Liga action on Saturday against Levante.

“I’d do the same again, I brought a team capable of winning,” said Arbeloa.

The first half was mostly played under heavy gloom, not just Madrid’s mood but an intense fog which set in a few minutes into the game.

Vinicius Junior smashed high and wide from long range as neither side produced any clear chances until shortly before half-time, when the hosts took a shock lead.

Villar escaped Mastantuono’s attentions at a corner and nodded Albacete in front after 42 minutes.

Arbeloa’s side levelled before the breakthrough, also capitalising on a corner, with Mastantuono turning home from close range.

Jefte’s double

Albacete frustrated Madrid after the break and then burst into life in attack to take the lead once more.

Andriy Lunin pushed away an effort from Riki, but shortly afterwards, Jefte put Alberto Gonzalez’s side ahead.

Gonzalo Garcia’s clearance fell to the striker in the box, and he fired down into the ground with the ball bouncing up and flashing past Lunin.

Madrid’s young forward made amends by pulling his team level in stoppage time with a well-placed header.

However, there was a sting in the tale as Jefte produced a sensational lofted finish past Lunin to snatch a famous late victory for Albacete, their first ever against Real Madrid.

“I’m not afraid of failure; I can understand that someone would want to call this defeat that,” added Arbeloa.

“Failure is on the path to success; for me, they are not in opposite directions.”

Madrid captain Dani Carvajal, who came on as a substitute and could not stop Jefte’s winner, said the players would work hard to revert the club’s slump.

“We’re not at our best moment, we have to work hard, we all have to give a lot more, it’s a reality,” Carvajal told reporters.

“We ask for forgiveness for the fans. We were not up to the level of this club, me first of all, and we will give our lives in the next games and months [to turn it around].”

Elsewhere, Real Betis beat Elche 2-1, and Alaves defeated Rayo Vallecano 2-0 to reach the quarterfinals.

United States President Donald Trump has said he has received assurances that the killings of antigovernment protesters in Iran have stopped, as Iranian ‍Foreign ‍Minister Abbas Araghchi stated there is “no ⁠plan” for executions by Tehran.

In comments that appeared to signal a more measured approach to the crisis after threatening to attack Iran, Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he had been told that the killings of protesters in Iran had stopped and that planned executions were halted.

Speaking hours after the US began to withdraw some personnel from an airbase in Qatar amid growing fears of a renewed US-Iran conflict, Trump said he had spoken to “very important sources on the other side”, and he would watch how the crisis developed, although he did not rule out potential US military action.

“We are going to watch what the process is”, he said, before noting the US administration received a “very good statement” from Iran.

In an interview with Fox News later on Wednesday, Araghchi said “there is no plan for hanging at all” when asked whether there were plans to execute antigovernment protesters.

“Hanging is ‌out of the ‌question,” he ⁠said.

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna said that the president’s comments on Wednesday signalled a softening of his tone towards Iran.

“It does appear that he’s still mulling over various options; he’s been briefed by his national security council, but these statements we’ve just heard do indicate a potential cooling down of the situation and President Trump backing away from the precipice of imminent action, which he has been threatening,” he said.

Sina Toossi, a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy, told Al Jazeera that Trump’s claim that he had received information indicating killings in Iran had stopped appears, on the surface, to be a “face-saving way” to avoid military intervention, though it does not entirely rule out such a conflict.

“It’s hard to take what Trump says seriously, but we do know that he’s had an aversion to getting sucked into big, open-ended military conflicts, and with Iran, that risk was on the table,” Toossi told Al Jazeera.

“This remark today suggests he’s looking for a face-saving way out, but I wouldn’t take it as 100 percent ruling that out,” he said, adding that Trump has a track record of negotiating with Iran while simultaneously threatening military action.

Trump has threatened Iran with military strikes in the past as a means of pressuring Tehran into greater alignment with US demands, and has said during the last week that a harsh response by Iranian authorities to the country’s protesters could result in US attacks.

Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera that Trump is “probably torn” when it comes to deciding what action to take against Iran.

She said that while the US president would like “another quick victory, I don’t think he wants to be involved in a protracted conflict in the Middle East that goes against all his instincts”.

She added that she expects Trump to carry out limited strikes that enable him to claim he fulfilled his pledge to “help” the Iranian people, without triggering “a wider escalation”.

Earlier on Wednesday, Britain and the US withdrew some personnel from an airbase in Qatar after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned neighbours it would hit US bases if Washington strikes. A number of countries have also issued advisories for protecting their citizens in the region amid fears of a wider regional escalation.

Iran ready to respond

Iran has said it is prepared to retaliate in the event of any US intervention.

The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mohammad Pakpour, has said that Iran is ready to respond “decisively” to its foes, Israel and the United States, which he accused of being behind the protests sweeping the country.

IRGC is at “the height of readiness to respond decisively to the miscalculation of the enemy”, said Pakpour in a written statement quoted by state television.

Pakpour went on to accuse Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being the “murderers of the youth of Iran”.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also told US broadcaster Fox News that his government is in full control after a deadly crackdown on protests that had spread across the country since January 8.

“After three days of terrorist operation, now there is a calm. We are in full control,” Araghchi told Fox News’ Special Report programme on Wednesday.

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi said that people in the city and across the country are anxious because they have psychologically felt the shadow of war since the 12-day conflict with the US and Israel in June.

“Many people feel it, and it is creating anxiety about a possible new round of escalation, which would tangibly impact people’s everyday lives,” he said.

The protests started in December when shopkeepers took to the streets to protest a fall in the value of the local currency and the soaring cost of living, and quickly escalated into widespread antigovernment demonstrations.

Iranian state television has acknowledged reports of a high death toll during the nationwide protests, quoting the head of the Martyrs Foundation as saying “armed and terrorist groups” are to blame.

More than 100 security personnel have been killed in two weeks of unrest, according to Iranian state media, while opposition activists say the death toll is higher and includes thousands of protesters.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency has said that it has confirmed the deaths of more than 2,400 protesters, and more than 150 security personnel and government supporters.

Al Jazeera has not been able to independently verify the figures.

Iran is currently in the midst of a near-total telecommunications blackout, with monitor NetBlocks reporting on Wednesday that the shutdown had surpassed 144 hours.

Rights group Amnesty International said on Wednesday it reviewed evidence showing “mass unlawful killings committed on an unprecedented scale” in Iran over the past week, including against “mostly peaceful protesters and bystanders”.

“The evidence gathered by Amnesty International points to a coordinated nationwide escalation in the security forces’ unlawful use of lethal force against mostly peaceful protesters and bystanders since the evening of 8 January,” Amnesty said in a press release.

Trump administration’s move against Jerome Powell fuels fears the Fed’s independence is being undermined.