Real Madrid suffered their first defeat in the 2024-25 season as they fell to LOSC Lille in the UEFA Champions League with a 1-0 scoreline. This was the second game in the competition, and with this loss, the Merengues saw their 36-game unbeaten run come to an end.
Los Blancos were unable to put in much of an attacking threat in this game. While not being able to score would still have been acceptable, the performance the team put on in this game was overall quite difficult to justify, especially keeping in view the difference in quality that the two teams possess.
As MARCA has reported, Carlo Ancelotti was in a mood to make any excuses for the team, as he spoke to the press after the game. The Italian tactician believed a loss was a just result for Real Madrid:
“The opposing team played better and deserved to win. We struggled to match their intensity and competitiveness. We could have tied the game, but it wouldn’t have been deserved. We need to learn from what happened. It’s clear what we need to improve.”
Ancelotti went on to highlight the main problems that his team faced:
“Everything went quite wrong, and it was hard to recover the ball. We struggled to create and generate chances. The possession was slow and lacked ideas.”
With six more matches left in the league phase, it is not yet the time to see everything as doom and gloom due to this loss. However, the Real Madrid manager rued the bad impression that his team put in this game:
“The sadness comes from the team’s performance. You can lose matches, but we didn’t give a good impression. That’s what worries me the most, but we have the resources to learn. We need to fix things quickly because we have another game on Saturday.”
With the draw against Atletico, Real Madrid have failed to win either of their last two games. One can only hope that this defeat will serve as a wake-up call for the team, and push the players and the manager to put their act right before such losses actually end up costing the team.