Carlo Ancelotti hit out at the execution of his game plan by his Real Madrid players after they were beaten by Barcelona in the Super Cup final on Sunday.
Despite entering the game in significantly better form than their opponents, Madrid were thoroughly embarrassed Barcelona won 5-2 – A result that could have been worse for Los Blancos had Barça not seen goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny sent off early in the second half when they were already 5-1 up.
It was a disappointing performance from Madridand Ancelotti argued that it was the complete opposite of what he had designed.
“We defended badly, it hurt us in the game, they found the goals easily and we didn't defend well in high pressure or in the low block,” he said.
“In the first half I said that first we should try to play football because in the first half we didn't play football, we hit long balls but that wasn't the idea, the idea was to play and we didn't play. told them they can lose games, but not the way we played in the first half.”
Luka Modric, the only Madrid player to speak to the media after the match, refused to criticize Ancelotti's approach to the game.
“We have to work now and correct our mistakes,” said the midfielder. “We didn't play a good game, Barça was better and that's it.”
Modric continued: “It's not good when your biggest rival scores nine goals in two games. I think we'll react, I'm sure. We didn't think we'd have a game like this and we feel sorry for the fans and for Now is the time to stick together and work hard, I'm sure we'll bring a lot of joy throughout the season, there's still a long way to go.
“If we have to lose a final, it better be this one. This is football and in football there are wins and losses. We lost this time. It's never good to lose, but if we have to choose a loss, it's better in supercup Barcelonabecause they were better and that's it.”