Carlo Ancelotti said he was “sad and disappointed” after Real Madrid absorbed a 5-2 Supercopa final defeat to Barcelona on Sunday.
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Ancelotti “sad and disappointed” with the Clasico loss
Kylian Mbappe first put Madrid in front after just five minutes at the Al Jawhara Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
However, Lamine Yamal equalized, and goals from Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, and Alejandro Balde put Barca ahead 4-1 by half-time.
Raphinha added a fifth goal after the break, while Rodrygo scored a consolation goal for Madrid.
Madrid missed their chance to claim their third trophy this season.
Ancelotti said: “We have to look at the reality. We didn’t defend well. We tried to press high and defend with a low block. They scored the goals easily, and we didn’t work hard, collectively or individually.”
“We lost a lot of duels. That makes us sad and disappointed, but that’s football. We have to take that sadness home. I understand the sadness of our fans. We feel that, but we have to look forward, and prepare for the next game, and recover the good form we’d been in.”
Barcelona played with only 10 men for the last half hour after goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was shown a red card, but that didn’t deter the Catalan giants.
“I won’t name anyone, I’m talking about the whole team,” Ancelotti said. “We didn’t defend well, we weren’t compact, and we have to defend better … We had an extra man [after Szczesny’s red card] and we couldn’t find solutions. But that doesn’t hurt more, I’m sad about the game as a whole.”
Bounce back
Madrid’s next match is in the Copa del Rey last 16 on Thursday, where they will host Celta Vigo at the Bernabeu.
Following that, they face Las Palmas in LaLiga.
Meanwhile, veteran midfielder Luka Modric apologized to Madrid fans and vowed that the club would bounce back from the heavy defeat against their arch-rivals.
“I’m sure we’re going to react after this tough defeat,” Modric told reporters. “We didn’t expect to lose like that, but it’s football. We’re sorry to the fans. We have to keep going, stay united, there’s a lot of season left … You can’t always win. If you have to lose a trophy, we’d prefer it to be this one.”
“We have to congratulate Barcelona, they played a very good game,
