Ancelotti: ‘Real Madrid frail and must work on basic foundations’ | OneFootball

Carlo Ancelotti confesses that Milan exposed the ‘defensive frailty’ of Real Madrid in a 3-1 victory and the time has come to work on the ‘basic foundations of football.’

The Merengues had been unbeaten at home in European competition for 15 games, winning 12 of them, before this 3-1 defeat at the Bernabeu sealed by Malick Thiaw, Alvaro Morata and Tijjani Reijnders.

Vinicius Junior was able to temporarily equalise from the penalty spot after he was brought down by Emerson Royal, while Mike Maignan performed heroics, but Milan also had more chances to add to their tally.

This was Real Madrid’s first match since the humiliating 4-0 home defeat to Barcelona in LaLiga, so many expected more of a response.

“We did not see the reaction and the same problems remain from the defeat to Barcelona,” confessed Ancelotti on Sky Sport Italia.

“We lack solidity in defence, we are often unbalanced on the counter-attack. We’ve got to fix that, we need to be more solid and win the ball back no matter how so that we are not so fragile.”

Ancelotti acknowledges Real Madrid problems

MADRID, SPAIN – NOVEMBER 05: Malick Thiaw of AC Milan (obscured) scores his team’s first goal during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD4 match between Real Madrid C.F. and AC Milan at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on November 05, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

Considering defending champions Real Madrid have now lost two of their four Champions League matches in the new format and are on six points alongside Milan, is it time to get worried?

“We ought to be worried because the team has a great deal of potential and is not expressing that. We need to work on the foundations, because that is what’s missing here. When you are not solid in defence, games can get complicated at any moment. We were able to recover from these situations a few times, but you can’t do it every time.”

Ancelotti had said in yesterday’s press conference that he felt Milan had a great deal of potential, so did they show some of that this evening?

“I expected them to play like this, as they have a lot of pace and quality in one-on-one situations and made the most of the fragility of our defence.”

It was assumed that Real Madrid would always make up for their defensive weakness with attacking firepower, but Kylian Mbappé, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham are struggling to convert that kind of potential.

“It’s true we were ineffective in attack and didn’t take our chances, but the big issue is the lack of defensive structure,” concluded Ancelotti.

“These are the basic foundations of football and we simply have to change something to defend better.”