During Saturday’s derby tie against Atletico Madrid, Carlo Ancelotti reportedly gave his Real Madrid players a stern warning at halftime to get them to wake up.
After Julian Alvarez’s penalty put the La Liga leaders behind 1-0 going into the dressing room, Kylian Mbappe tied the score within five minutes of the resumption.
Los Blancos won the game 1-1 in the end, which was crucial because it maintained them ahead of Atletico. With 50 points, Ancelotti’s team leads the field, but Diego Simeone’s team is catching up with 49.
Ahead of Tuesday night’s Champions League quarterfinal play-off trip to Manchester City, the comeback gave his team a boost of confidence in their capacity to bounce back.
Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe, and Vinicius Junior are reported to have “waged war” against one another during a heated first half against Atletico, frequently appearing in the same area.
Marca claims that Ancelotti threatened to substitute his players if they didn’t make a swift adjustment in the game’s direction.
Vinicius was cautioned by the Spaniard to refrain from straying toward the middle of the field from his left-wing position.
That area was already occupied by Mbappe and Bellingham, with the Englishman playing a supporting role and the Frenchman at the head of the line.
According to Marca, the players reacted swiftly to Ancelotti’s suggestion that they level the playing field.
The Los Blancos manager threatened to take off his star trio Jude Bellingham (left), Kylian Mbappe (second left) and Vinicius Jr (right) for ‘waging war’ on each other in the first half
According to reports, Federic Valverde, a midfielder, “acted like Superman” with his diligent efforts in the middle of the park against Rodrigo De Paul and Pablo Barrios, two hardworking Atletico players.
Madrid is concerned that its primary attacking players were unable to function as a cohesive unit throughout the first half, even if they managed to salvage a point.
We deserved more, in my opinion. “The second half of the game was excellent,” Ancelotti remarked.
This was a very different first half. More slowly. We left feeling positive, particularly after the second half. The team was impacted by the penalty issue. Before, we played too slowly.
During the second half, we exploited the field’s width. From the outside, Vini [Vinicius Junior] and Rodry [Rodrygo] posed a serious threat.
The match was competitive and close. We ended the game with a draw, but we were still motivated, as I mentioned. In the second half, the team performed well.
On Tuesday, Real will play City, and on Wednesday, February 19, they will visit the Santiago Bernabeu.
The match is a rematch of their quarterfinal matchup from the previous season, in which Madrid defeated City at the Etihad on penalties.
Madrid goalie Andriy Lunin saved both Bernardo Silva’s and Mateo Kovacic’s spot-kicks that evening.
Antonio Rudiger, a former Chelsea player, sealed the victory by smashing his game-winning penalties past Ederson.
Despite City’s apparent dominance in the match, Madrid advanced and won their 15th Champions League title with a 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in the final.