Ancelotti: I've told the Real Madrid players that Clasico defeat is my fault

Posted Monday, March 21, 2022 by Marca.com

Carlo Ancelotti has recognised that he made mistakes that ended up costing Real Madrid in their 4-0 loss against Barcelona in El Clasico on Sunday night.

Real Madrid remain 12 points ahead of their arch-rivals after the defeat, but the Italian was understandably frustrated with the performance his side put in.

"We were not recognisable, everything went wrong. I told the players that [the defeat] was my fault," Ancelotti said during his post-match interview.

One of the more controversial moments of the game came in the 11th minute, when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang did a studs-up challenge that hit the shin of Toni Kroos, yet not even a yellow card was shown. Despite that, Ancelotti didn't want to highlight the incident.

"I don't understand it, but I'm not going into it because I don't want to make excuses. We played very badly and we approached the game very badly," he commented.

"We have time to gather our energy and prepare for the last two months of the season to win trophies. We would have done what we needed to do so far: nine points ahead of [Sevilla in] second and into the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

"I'm very sad about the defeat, I'm sorry for the fans, but I have to be calm."