PALMA: Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti was critical of his team’s lack of balance and bad defending in a 1-1 draw at Mallorca in their La Liga season opener on Sunday.

Ancelotti said his players lacked focus after taking an early lead through Rodrygo in the 13th minute but allowing Mallorca to rescue a point with a Vedat Muriqi header after the break at a raucous Son Moix..

“Today I am not happy. I think we could have been done much better,” a visibly frustrated Ancelotti told a press conference. “We need to be more concentrated, work better as a group... It’s not a fitness problem, it was mental.

“I don’t want to make excuses for anything. We had to do better and show more attitude. We can learn a lot from this match, it’s a match where you can see clearly where we can end up having problems.”

Ancelotti was specially critical of his team’s defending, saying that he needs a more disciplined performance due to a system

that plays with four attacking players like Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham up front.

He suggested that Real could have easily lost due to their own blunders and urged his players to learn fast from Saturday’s mistakes.

“We started the game well, we took the lead and we had chances to score the second, but in the second half we lacked balance,” Ancelotti said.

“It was a game we could have lost because we didn’t have balance. It wasn’t a good game. We are a very attacking team and defensive balance is a fundamental part of the way we are built.

“We struggled to steal the ball, to press after losing the ball. When we talk about defending, we are talking above all about collective commitment. The balance is found with the players thinking about the same thing. When we have to win the ball back we have to think about it all together.

“It’s a problem for everyone, not the strikers, the midfielders or the defenders. It is a problem of a team that did not understand that this was a key aspect of the match.”

Real started well and took the lead thanks to a fine curling strike by Brazilian forward Rodrygo assisted by a back-heeled pass from his countryman Vinicius.

However, Mallorca started to create some chances in counter-attacks as a toothless Real grew frustrated, dominating possession but lacking ideas up front.

With Mbappe and Bellingham nowhere to be found, Vinicius was arguably Real’s only weapon against a disciplined Mallorca defence.

Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois made three fine saves to keep the visitors’ lead, but there was nothing he could do to stop Muriqi’s powerful header from a corner in the 53rd minute that level for the locals.

Ancelotti sent on veteran Luka Modric, who turns 39 in September, for defensive midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni, in search of more fluidity in attack against Mallorca’s bunkered-in defence.

But Mallorca held their own to leave Mbappe disappointed on his league debut.

Real’s frustration showed in Ferland Mendy’s wild hack at Muriqi which earned him a straight red card deep into added time.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2024