Carlo Ancelotti said he was ‘not happy’ with Real Madrid’s 1-1 draw against Mallorca in their LaLiga opening match on Sunday.
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Ancelotti “not happy” with Madrid’s game
Rodrygo set the pace for Madrid in the 13th minute, but Vedat Muriqi scored an equalizer for Mallorca with a second-half header.
The LaLiga champions failed to score a late winning goal, and defender Ferland Mendy received a red card in the added time.
The Italian manager was left frustrated after the fixture
“In the second half we lacked balance,” Ancelotti said in his postmatch news conference. “We gave away counterattacks, crosses. It wasn’t a good game. We have to defend better, and above all have more balance on the pitch.”
“Today we’re not happy. I don’t want to give excuses. We just had to do better, with more attitude. But we can learn a lot from this game, it was clear where we had problems.”
Real Madrid to improve on “attitude, collective commitment”
Kylian Mbappe made his LaLiga debut for Madrid, but failed to convert all of his four shots.
Other forwards including Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior also struggled in their attacks.
Ancelotti said the team needs to improve on their “attitude” and “collective commitment.”
Madrid will host Real Valladolid on August 25.
“The defending wasn’t good, it was hard for us to win the ball after losing it,” Ancelotti said. “That’s where we have to improve, when I talk about defending, we’re talking about attitude and collective commitment.”
“The team was too open. We have to focus more, as we usually do, with more concentration, be more together. People can think it’s a problem of the forwards, but when the forwards press, the midfielders don’t help and the defenders stay back. It isn’t one or the other.”
