Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti said that his team has to defend better after it lost the … [+]
Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti said that his team didn’t play soccer in the first half of the Spanish Super Cup final it lost 5-2 to bitter rival FC Barcelona on Sunday.
Los Blancos set themselves up for a night to remember after Kylian Mbappe latched on to a ball Vinicius Jr. stole from Marc Casado and made it 1-0 inside five minutes.
By halftime, however, Madrid was trailing 4-1 and Raphinha added another – his second of the night – to the Catalans’ tally following the interval.
Rodrygo pulled one back with a converted free kick after Barca ‘keeper Wojciech Szczesny was shown a straight red card for raising his studs to Mbappe just outside the 18-yarder.
In the end, though, the 2024 champion was unable to take advantage of Hansi Flick’s side being down to 10 men, as the German lifted his first piece of silverware since succeeding Xavi Hernandez as Blaugrana boss last summer.
Reacting to the loss in a post-match press conference, Ancelotti first said that Madrid has to “look at reality”.
“We didn’t defend well. They scored goals very easily. We didn’t work well collectively or individually, it leaves us sad and disappointed,” Ancelotti added.
“This is football. We have to go home and our sadness is that of our fans. We have to look forward, and prepare well for the next one.”
Though both men had a night to forget, Ancelotti didn’t “want to point fingers” at Aurelien Tchouameni or Lucas Vazquez.
“They didn’t defend well at the back. The team was not compact. We have to defend better,” the Italian demanded.
“The game was not good from the first minute to the last. We were left with one more [player] and we couldn’t create scoring situations. I’m hurt about the whole game,” he further said.
Asked about his half time talk with an outfit trailing 4-1, Ancelotti said that he told his troops “we should try to play football, because in the first half we didn’t”.
“We took advantage of long balls, but this had to be an option, not the idea. The idea was to play and we didn’t. I said we could lose, but not like the first half,” Ancelotti revealed.
After losing its Super Cup title, Madrid returns to action in the Copa del Rey on Thursday when hosting Celta Vigo at the Bernabeu.
