By Cheta Enyoghasi
Real Madrid Coach, Carlo Ancelotti has expressed displeasure at the team’s performance in their La Liga opener against Mallorca at Son Moix.
Rodrygo gave last season’s UEFA Champions League winners the lead after 13 minutes at the Estadi Mallorca Son Moix, but Vedat Muriqi equalised for the hosts eight minutes later.
Madrid’s left-back Ferland Mendy was then sent off in stoppage time, denying Kylian Mbappe a league debut triumph.
Ancelotti believes his team’s failure was due to a lack of “balance” in the second half.
He said: “We got off to a good start, taking the lead and then had a chance to get the second goal,” Ancelotti explained in his post-match news conference.
“Then, in the second half, we didn’t find the balance. This was a match we could have lost, obviously, as there was no balance at the back. We had counter-attacks, crosses. So, it wasn’t a good game.
“Actually, the game made it quite clear that we need to defend better and, most of all, find the balance on the pitch. It’s what we said before, we’re a very attacking team, but defensive balance becomes a fundamental factor. Last year I was happy with some draws.
“Today, we are not happy because I think we could have done much better. I don’t want to make excuses for anything, but we just must do better and have a better attitude. We can learn a lot from this match because from the game it was quite clear where our problems could come from.
“When I talk about defence, we were not good in terms of defence. We struggled to recover the ball, we struggled to press after losing the ball, and this is something we need to improve. When you talk about defence, you’re mostly talking about attitude and collective commitment.”
Ancelotti added that Mallorca deserved the spoils due to their lack of defensive unity, stating that the team didn’t understand the importance of the aspect of the game.
