Three things to blame for Real Madrid’s Copa Del Rey exit to Athletic Bilbao

Real Madrid lost to Atheltic Bilbao in the quarter-finals of Copa Del Rey 2021/22, by a scoreline of 1-0, with Bilbao’s Alex Berenguer netting the winner in the 89th minute of regulation time.

Well, the scoreline does make it look like a tight game, but it doesn’t talk enough about Real Madrid’s underwhelming performance yesterday.

I’m not exaggerating, but this game might actually be the worst game so far this season. We are used to Copa Del Rey eliminations, and sometimes those eliminations can be heartbreaking ones, like the 3-4 loss to Real Sociedad in 2019/20 or the loss to Celta Vigo in 2016/17, which was decided by an unfortunate own goal from Danilo. But this one is different. Real Madrid never looked to be in the game from the word go.

A lot of things went wrong in yesterday’s game, and let us have a look at three things that can be blamed for yesterday’s terrible result.

1. Carlo Ancelotti got his calls wrong this time

Whenever a team is outclassed by the opponents and eventually loses the game, the manager is expected to take responsibility for the loss. This game wasn’t any different, and Carlo Ancelotti got a lot of calls wrong at San Mames.

Starting with the line-up, Carlo Ancelotti couldn’t have tried anything different in midfield and defence, but he got it wrong in selecting his attacking line. Karim Benzema was unavailable due to an injury, and Jovic wasn’t really impressive in the role of a lone striker in his last two games, so it made sense to leave the Serbian on the bench. But his decision to start Asensio as a false-9 is definitely a questionable one.

Eden Hazard was decent in his last two appearances, and he is clearly a superior false-9 to Asensio, in terms of both quality and experience. But Ancelotti chose to start an Asensio who had just returned from injury. He did rectify his mistake at half-time by asking Asensio to drift to the wings, but in turn, Rodrygo had to stay central, and that decision didn’t help the team.

Another questionable call from Ancelotti was to start all three of Vini Jr, Casemiro and Rodrygo, who had just returned from Brazil, a day before the game. It is important to pick your best XI for games like these, but there are some factors like jet lag and recovery, and you’ve got to consider them.

Another aspect of the game that Ancelotti got terribly wrong is substitutions. Taking off Vini in the second half wasn’t a wrong decision, because the Brazilian was ineffective and he wasn’t even in the right condition to start the game. But the decision to keep Rodrygo and Asensio on the pitch, while both of them weren’t at their best, is another questionable call. He had players like Hazard, Bale and Jovic on the bench, and instead of waiting for an extra-time scenario and settling for a draw in the 90 minutes, he could’ve made the substitutions. In hindsight, we can say that subbing on Isco was a good decision because the Spaniard did look decent on the pitch, but apart from that, he got a lot of things wrong in the second half.

Personally, I feel that this was Real Madrid’s worst performance this season, considering the importance of the occasion and the level we got to witness yesterday. Carlo Ancelotti doesn’t think so, but such an underwhelming performance in a knockout game has to be the worst game for both the team and Ancelotti.

No one should judge Ancelotti on the basis of this one game, because he has done a good job this season, but it is what it is.