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Real’s Ancelotti hopes Betis defeat is wake-up call for Champions League
Ancelotti criticised his team’s poor performance at the Benito Villamarin stadium and said a similar display at home to Atletico in Tuesday’s Champions League first leg could prove costly.
“This is a heavy blow, we have to bounce back. Losing at this point in the season is tough because everyone is on form and we didn’t do well in this game,” the Italian told reporters.
“We lost 27 balls in the first half and Betis got back into the game. If we play like this, we certainly won’t win on Tuesday.
“I hope this serves as a wake-up call. It seemed that lately we were more organised, more compact, and today we weren’t able to do it like in the previous games.”
Ancelotti explained his decision to bring on Endrick for the team’s top scorer Kylian Mbappe in the closing stages of the game, saying the French forward had been unable to fully train due to a dental issue.
“(Mbappe) had a problem this week and didn’t train much and wasn’t at his best level,” he said.