Real Madrid players spent Sunday morning digesting their latest La Liga setback against Valencia on Saturday afternoon at the Santiago Bernabeu.
It was a disappointing performance from the champions – one which allowed leaders Barcelona to widen the gap at the top (albeit by only one point), while drawing boos and whistles from the supporters.
Ancelotti’s rallying call
The defeat had left the Real Madrid locker room deeply stung and hurt, a scenario that was far from ideal given that they were scheduled to play Arsenal next.
As such, AS reports that manager Carlo Ancelotti took it upon himself to reset the team’s mindset after the La Liga setback.
During Sunday’s training session, the Italian relayed an important message to his squad – making it clear that the slip-up vs Valencia was not fatal and that the path forward remained open.
He outlined a firm objective: win the four matches before El Clasico, and then beat Barcelona in Montjuic. It was part motivational talk, part strategy session – a call to reset mentally and emotionally.
Ancelotti urged the group to switch gears and focus on the upcoming Champions League quarter-final against Arsenal. Given Real Madrid’s deep bond with the competition, it did not take long for the players to shift into “Champions mode.”
After a shaky start, Madrid have strung together seven consecutive wins in the tournament, even though the last result vs Atletico Madrid – a penalty shootout win – technically followed a loss in regulation time.
In contrast, their longest winning streak in the league has only reached five games this season.
Furthermore, Real Madrid also welcomed Thibaut Courtois back to training after he missed three matches – which is seen as a huge boost as his absence at the back was certainly felt.
At the same time, there was disappointment as Dani Ceballos and Ferland Mendy did not recover in time for the Arsenal game as was expected previously.
Nevertheless, Ancelotti’s efforts, coupled with Courtois return did enough to lift the spirits at Real Madrid as they left the Valencia defeat behind and turned their full attention to what lies ahead, starting with tonight’s game against Arsenal.
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