Lack of trust in his players
By now, we have to question whether or not Ancelotti has some sort of a personal vendetta against some of the players in his squad.
There were no sights of Eden Hazard, Gareth Bale, Isco, or Jovic in the match, which raises some questions. We haven’t seen much of these players this season, but they could have been viable options to replace the injured Benzema.
It’s clear to see that the Real Madrid manager has favorites in the squad, but it’s certainly strange not seeing the likes of Hazard or Bale not feature more prominently in the eleven, even if the Italian manager does not regard them as highly.
As previously noted, Ancelotti’s lack of rotation has been one of his detriments as Madrid manager this season, and his poor team selection against Barcelona proved just how thin the Italian manager had made this squad out to be.
There aren’t many players he can trust, and this is undoubtedly a concern. Benzema’s absence proved that Ancelotti only selects a certain few in the squad, and this is a problem that needs to be addressed.
It’s honestly puzzling how one player’s absence from the eleven can be so disastrous. It shouldn’t be this way for Ancelotti, but he has adapted to it, and it’s now the norm for Los Blancos to be overly reliant on some of their players.
What were to happen if the likes of Toni Kroos, Thibaut Courtois, or Modric were out injured or absent from the squad? It would be a severe problem that we don’t even want to imagine, and it’s not even one that Ancelotti would be able to solve.