It’s been more than 24 hours since Real Madrid‘s horrible defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League, and it has been difficult for the fans to get over the defeat. The scoreline of 1-0 in favour of the Parisians might make it look like a close contest, but in reality, it was a pathetic performance from Los Blancos.
Most of the outfield players couldn’t reach the expectations we have from them, and some of them failed very badly. There was no intensity from Real, and it looked like they were never in the competition. If there’s any Real Madrid player who didn’t deserve a defeat, it was Thibaut Courtois. The Belgian put in an excellent performance, pulling off some crucial saves and saving Leo Messi’s low penalty.
Carlo Ancelotti is expected to take some responsibility for this result, and he does deserve some criticism for this performance from his team. Well, a manager just selects the lineup, makes the substitutions, and instructs the players on what to do and how to play, and the rest is in the hands of the players. But some of Carlo Ancelotti’s mistakes were so blatant that they made the fans scratch their heads out of disgust, and they need to be talked about.
So let us have a look at three such mistakes from Carlo Ancelotti in the PSG match. Before we get started, I would like to make it clear that I’m not going to mention things like “exhaustion due to lack of rotation” in this article. Because there’s no point in talking about that when we’ve got used to this, and it’s clear that Ancelotti hasn’t learned from the mistakes he had committed in the 2014/15 season.
1. Defensive mindset in one of the biggest games this season
In the recently released documentary on Amazon Prime, “Real Madrid – La Leyenda Blanca”, a lot of legends had mentioned how Real Madrid is all about winning, and how playing for Real Madrid is a way of living. And after watching our club all these years, we can understand why they said that.
But yesterday when we watched Real Madrid sit deep in their half against PSG, it felt like some mid-table club played in Paris and not the most successful team in the Champions League. We got to see a Real Madrid wanting to play for a draw, and not a win. We never got to witness the team with alpha-mentality we are used to, and instead got to watch a team that had shown zero intensity.
Even the stats suggest the same, with Real Madrid registering just 3 shots throughout the game, in comparison to PSG’s 21 shots. And according to OptaJose, it’s the club’s lowest figure in a Champions League club since the 2003/04 season.
The blame must go to the players for this terrible display. But it would be unfair to blame only the players, especially when all of them play with a defensive mindset, and the manager does deserve a lot of criticism for asking his players to be defensive. Carlo had deployed the tactics that are simply against what Real Madrid stands for.
We saw a shift in Ancelotti’s tactics from an ultra attacking scheme to a rather conservative scheme of late, but you can’t even label yesterday’s approach as a conservative one. Ancelotti might deny these claims in the press conference, but the result, the stats, and the quality of the chances created by both the teams speak for themselves.
And Ancelotti got his tactics absolutely wrong. He had admitted in front of the media that Real’s midfield, which is regarded as the best in Europe, couldn’t break through PSG’s press, and it clearly indicates a tactical failure from the Italian. PSG did play very well throughout the game, but with all due respect to them, Carlo Ancelotti and his men gave them too much control and made them look better than they actually are.
2. Exposing Carvajal to the danger from two players, and inability to change things mid-way
Anyone who watched the match yesterday knows that Dani Carvajal struggled in the game from the word go. The Spaniard is a beast on his day, but yesterday he was unable to handle both Kylian Mbappe and Nuno Mendes, with the Frenchman, in particular, giving Carvajal a very tough time on the right.
Carvajal can be criticised for getting the basics wrong and even gifting a penalty to PSG, as he did against Manchester City in 2020, by fouling Raheem Sterling late in the second half. But questions must be asked about Carlo Ancelotti’s inability to respond to Carvajal’s struggles and his decision to start Marco Asensio, a player who doesn’t really help his winger down the right.
I feel that an attacker must be selected on the basis of his attacking abilities and I believe that defensive contribution must always be secondary. That is the reason why I wanted Gareth Bale to start as the right-winger in this game, despite his below-average defensive work rate. But at the same time, Asensio had done nothing in attack and was one of the worst players on the pitch. Maybe he couldn’t do what Ancelotti expected from him, but this raises questions regarding Ancelotti’s reluctance to change things at half-time or even earlier in the second half when he knew that the team and Carvajal are struggling.
The solution was simple. He could’ve replaced Asensio with Fede Valverde, as the Uruguayan can act as a wide midfielder and support Carvajal in defence, while also helping out Real’s midfield to break through PSG’s press by acting as the extra midfielder. But Ancelotti didn’t do this.
Instead, he preferred to stick to his 4-3-3 formation, and subbed on Lucas Vazquez, a worse defender than Carvajal, for Real’s No.2. In hindsight, we can say that it was a suicidal decision because Vazquez could’ve prevented Mbappe’s 94th-minute winner with better defensive awareness.
Yes, Real Madrid’s right-back position has been an area of concern, and there’s a need to work on that issue in the summer. But the manager needs to realise that there are ways in which they can mask the issue, at least until summer. In simple words, there must be a plan B and it must be used when plan-A won’t isn’t working.
3. Decision to start a half-fit Karim Benzema
There was a lot of talk surrounding Benzema’s availability for the big clash in the buildup, as the Frenchman had injured his hamstring in the 2-2 draw against Elche. He hadn’t played a single minute since that game, and there were concerns regarding his availability and fitness. ESPN’s Rodrigo Faez had also mentioned in a podcast that Benzema was going to go against his doctor’s advice and play the game against PSG.
Ancelotti put an end to all the pre-match speculation by naming Benzema in his starting XI. Well, it was a huge relief for the fans to see their best player return in time for an important clash, but at the same time, there were some doubts if Benzema was at his 100%.
And after the game, those doubts did prove to be right because Benzema had a bad game on his return from injury, and never looked like a player who’s completely fit. He couldn’t run well and couldn’t play like his usual self, being limited to just 38 touches and zero shots attempted.
Benzema, being the on-field captain for Real Madrid, is expected to lead by example and motivate his teammates. But what could the poor guy have done when he himself wasn’t able to get going. Maybe Benzema was a bit too eager to return soon, but Carlo Ancelotti, being the manager should have realised that there is another leg to be played and should have rested the Frenchman or at least named him on the bench. And what was the point of using Benzema from the beginning when the manager’s aim was to return home after accomplishing a 0-0 draw.
Ferland Mendy is another player who returned from injury and never looked to be at his best during the game. But what else could Ancelotti have done in his case? He couldn’t have afforded to start a defensive liability in Marcelo, and he would’ve never trusted Miguel Gutierrez for a game, forget thinking about big games.
In Benzema’s case also we can say the same thing that no replacement can play as well as Benzema. But one thing we can say for sure is that there are more realistic options to consider in Benzema’s case when compared to Mendy.