The defeat was Madrid’s first in 2024/25 but was by no means the first time Ancelotti’s side have underwhelmed. Los Blancos have failed to live up to expectations on a number of occasions this year and were made to pay for it on Wednesday when Jonathan David’s penalty saw them fall to defeat.
Ancelotti has not hidden his frustration towards his side’s attitude this season, admitting after the first game of the campaign that the players did not approach the game in the correct manner, and he once again voiced his disappointment on Wednesday.
“It wasn’t a good match,” Ancelotti said. “My sadness comes from the team’s feeling.
“Games can be lost, but we have not given a good feeling. That is what worries me most, but we have the resources to learn. We have to fix things quickly because there is another match on Saturday.
“To be honest, the criticism for today’s game is fair, correct and we have to accept it, because that’s how it is. We have not shown a good version of ourselves in this match.”
The Madrid boss continued: “Luckily, it hasn’t happened to us too often lately. They played better than us and beat us. It was hard for us to get into the game, we had a chance at the end, but it wasn’t deserved. We have to learn from what we need to improve. I don’t think it’s complicated.
“It’s difficult to evaluate today’s game. Everything went quite badly. The team was quite compact in the first half, but it was difficult for us to be more aggressive. We have to look at things with a cool head. You can’t throw everything away, but we have to improve.
“Possession has been quite slow, with few ideas, it is obvious because we have forwards who need to play a more vertical game than normal.”
