Ancelotti reveals why he’s WORRIED about Real Madrid

Robin Bairner

• 3 Oct 2024 07:35 BST
• 2 min read

Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti admitted that he is ‘worried’ about his team after they were defeated 1-0 by Lille in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Los Blancos experienced their first defeat over 90 minutes in more than a year in northern France as a penalty from Jonathan David decided the match in Lille’s favour.

The Ligue 1 side’s success was no smash-and-grab, though. They produced a coherent performance that was enough to outmatch the defending champions, with Ancelotti quick to put his finger on what went wrong.

“Today, it's obvious that things didn't work. We have attackers who need us to play more directly. We can lose because it's sport, but today we didn't give good feelings. That worries me,” the Real Madrid boss told the press after the game.

“It's difficult to evaluate the game, everything went pretty badly. We had trouble doing everything. We mustn't throw everything away and we must keep a cool head. The feeling is that we have trouble generating, creating, possession was slow, with few ideas...”

Real Madrid to bounce back

Ancelotti’s side are back in action on Saturday, with Real Madrid travelling to face Villarreal in LaLiga.

“We have all the resources to learn and improve, we have to correct things quickly. We played several times on Sunday and Wednesday, today was not a good evening, we have to improve and that's it,” he admitted.

“I was not surprised by Lille, they are a team that handles the ball very well, they were more motivated, better than us, and they were clearer in all areas.

“The criticisms of today's match are fair, correct, and we have to accept them. That's how it is. We did not show a good version of ourselves. It's a wake-up call.”

Real Madrid have three points after their first two Champions League games, having already defeated Stuttgart 3-1.