Ancelotti Urges Real Madrid to Step Up After Costly Betis Defeat

Real Madrid must step up their game ahead of the Champions League Round of 16, coach Carlo Ancelotti warned after Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Real Betis, calling the defeat a “major setback” to his side’s LaLiga title ambitions.

Madrid missed a golden chance to lead LaLiga, remaining level on 54 points with top-placed Barcelona and one point ahead of third-placed Atletico Madrid, who both have a match in hand.

Ancelotti slammed his team’s sloppy performance at the Benito Villamarin stadium and said a similar showing at home to Atletico in Tuesday’s Champions League first leg could prove disastrous.

“This is a big blow, we have to bounce back. Losing at this stage in the season is tough because everyone is in form, and we didn’t do well in this contest,” the Italian told reporters.

“We lost 27 possessions in the first half, and Betis got back into the contest. If we perform like this, we certainly won’t succeed on Tuesday.

“I hope this serves as a reality check. It seemed that recently we were more structured, more compact, and today we weren’t able to execute like in the past games.”

Ancelotti justified his decision to bring on Endrick for the team’s leading scorer Kylian Mbappe in the closing stages of the encounter, saying the French forward had been unable to fully practice due to a dental complication.

“(Mbappe) had a concern this week and didn’t work out much and wasn’t at his peak level,” he said.

“To prevent problems, I took him off and put Endrick on, who has been in top form,” Ancelotti added of the Brazilian youngster.

Madrid host Rayo Vallecano in LaLiga next Sunday after their Champions League duel against Atletico.