Carlo Anseloti admitted that Real Madrid’s 2–1 defeat in Real Betis on Saturday could prove to be “expensive” in the Laliga title race.
Brahim Diaz quickly put Madrid ahead in Benito Wilmarin, but Betis and US Men’s National Team Midfielder Johnny Cardoso leveled with the header before the half-time.
Former Madrid player ISCO put the betis forward with the second half penalty, to leave three valuable points in his battle for the title with Atalico Madrid and Barcelona.
“It was a bad game,” Anseloti said at the post -match news conference. “We started well, but then we could not maintain our rhythm. We lost control of the game, against a team that played better and worthy of winning.
“This is a real shock. We have to react. Losing in this phase of the season is expensive. We didn’t do well … We lost the ball 27 times in the first half. It’s too much.”
Madrid is chasing three major trophies, defeating Real Sosidad 1-0 in his Copa del Ray semi-finals on Wednesday, and now preparing a Champions League round-off-16 first leg clash with Atliqo on Tuesday.
“If we play in this way, we won’t win on Tuesday, it is quite clear,” Anseloti said. “I hope it would wake us up. It seemed that we were more organized recently, more compact. And today we were not able to do so.”
Ancelotti opted to pursue Kylian Mbappé in the 75th minute as Madrid chased a par, replaced him with young Andrek.
“(Mbappé) had a problem this week (with its teeth) and he has not trained much,” Ancelotti said. “He was not in his best, it was clear. To avoid problems, I took him down and brought him to Andrek.”
Cardoso’s goal was his first in Laliga this season, for this campaign 19 league demonstrations for Betis.
