Ancelotti: Hard to Evaluate This Loss, Real Madrid Performed Poorly in All Aspects

In the early morning of October 3rd, Real Madrid unexpectedly lost 0-1 to Lille in the Champions League group stage. Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti said at the post-match press conference, “Obviously, we need to improve, and it’s not easy.”

Regarding the match, Ancelotti commented, “It’s hard to evaluate this game, the team performed poorly overall. We encountered difficulties on all levels. We mustn’t completely forget our past achievements, but we need to stay calm. It feels like we struggled to create opportunities, our ball possession was slow, and we lacked tactical ideas… Clearly, things did not go as planned today. We have several forwards who need the team to adopt a more direct style of play.”

Ancelotti continued, “Feeling down is because we didn’t feel good. We can accept defeat because it’s part of competitive sports, but today we didn’t show good form. I’m worried about this. We have all the conditions to learn and improve, and we need to quickly find a solution.”

Ancelotti stated, “We often play on Sundays and Wednesdays, and tonight was clearly not a good time, we need to improve, that’s all.”

Talking about Bellingham, Ancelotti pointed out, “Bellingham tends to move closer to the sideline when losing possession, but in other aspects, there has been no change compared to last year.”

“I believe merely discussing problems won’t solve them; if that were the case, it would be too simple. We need to improve the situation, words alone are not enough. I think the team is making progress, but this is a step back.”

After the loss, Ancelotti also mentioned, “I’m not surprised by Lille’s performance; they are a team skilled at ball possession. Today, they were more motivated and performed better than us, clearer in all aspects. The criticism we received today is fair and reasonable, and we must accept it. Indeed, we did not perform up to our standards.”

“The last loss was after the derby, after which the team’s form improved. Hopefully, this loss can also become a turning point for the team’s rebound.”