LONDON :Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti admitted his side’s chances of reaching the Champions League semi-finals were low after a stunning 3-0 defeat at Arsenal on Tuesday but warned that the reigning champions could still produce some magic at home.
Declan Rice scored two fabulous free kicks and Mikel Merino produced a slick finish to leave the 15-times European champions reeling and facing a mountain to climb in Madrid next week.
More concerning than the result was Real’s limp performance, rarely threatening in attack and disorganised in defence, though they have at times this season still managed to snatch a result.
“Normally this team raise their game towards the end of games,” Ancelotti told reporters. “It was disappointing, it was poor. We have to be critical of ourselves here and do everything we can next week to recover.”
The Italian was clear his side must improve markedly to have any chance, even as he said they “were not bad throughout large stretches of the game”.
But Real have a formidable record of pulling off improbable comebacks, particularly at the Santiago Bernabeu, and have previously overturned a three-goal first-leg deficit – albeit nearly 50 years ago against Derby County in the European Cup.
Ancelotti did not appear to fully believe in Real’s chances in the second leg, but warned Arsenal the tie was not over yet.
“The possibilities (of qualifying) are quite low, but we have to try 100 per cent,” he told reporters. “We have to do all we can, it’s an opportunity to show a response to a poor game.”
He added: “If you look at the game tonight, there is no possibility. But football changes. Nobody expected that Rice scores two goals from set pieces.
“In football, everything can happen. We need to believe, we need to have trust because, sometimes, a lot of time in the Bernabeu, it happened.”
