A defiant Carlo Ancelotti has given his verdict on Kylian Mbappé’s problems in Real Madrid’s 4-0 thrashing of Barcelona in Saturday night’s El Clasico.
Madrid lost for the first time this season when they fell to their rivals at the Bernabéu, and Barça scored four goals in the second half in a rout against their fiercest rivals.
With the game 0-0 at half-time, Roberto Lewandowski scored twice in as many minutes before Lamine Yamal broke another record and Raphinha put the icing on the cake with a fourth.
Mbappé was criticized by several fans as he was caught offside seven times during the match and had two goals disallowed as a result. The France captain has scored eight goals in 14 games since joining Los Blancos from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer, but has been criticized for struggling to adapt to his new team.
Ancelotti spoke about his striker after the match, explaining that he knew Barcelona would try to catch him offside.
A defiant Carlo Ancelotti (pictured) gave his verdict on Kylian Mbappé’s performance against Barcelona
Mbappé (pictured) was caught offside seven times during the match and had two goals disallowed as a result.
Ancelotti urged his forward to be more clinical in anticipation of Barcelona’s high line
‘It was known that they use the high line and we hardly took advantage of it,’ he said. “He had opportunities and sometimes he was offside.
‘But we had three or four opportunities where they needed more success. I don’t regret our approach. We had opportunities.
“It’s a difficult moment, as always when you lose. And even more so when you do it after so many undefeated games.”
Meanwhile, after Raphinha’s goal, the atmosphere seemed to heat up on the bench as the two benches faced off.
Ancelotti and Barca coach Hansi Flick appeared to be involved and spoke about the incident after the match.
“I haven’t seen it,” Flick said. “I have spoken with him, but it is a normal situation. We celebrate the goal. We are adults enough to talk about this.
Ancelotti, for his part, added: “I didn’t argue with Hansi Flick, I got angry with one of his employees. He made gestures towards our bench, he didn’t act like a gentleman.
It’s a result that puts Barça six points clear at the top of LaLiga, leaving more questions than answers for a Madrid team that was expected to evolve into a near-world champion this season.
But coach Ancelotti is not worried, he defends his team after the game and seems to identify the result as almost an anomaly after the humiliation.
He also spoke about his alleged confrontation with his counterpart Hansi Flick (right) during the match.
The defeat is the first of the season for Madrid and leaves it six points behind its rival at the top of the standings.
“We don’t have to throw everything away,” he said. ‘We have to forget about the last 30 minutes.
‘It doesn’t reflect what happened on the field. We couldn’t get ahead on the scoreboard and they took advantage. The game, until the first goal, was very even and we had more chances.
“We already lost here 4-0 against Barça and we won LaLiga and the Champions League. We won’t be far from last season.”
