Real Madrid suffered a real debacle against Arsenal in London. Not even the Champions League is working for the Whites, who are having a season to forget. Mikel Arteta’s side thrashed Madrid 3-0 and the Whites will have to pull off a miracle at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Ancelotti acknowledged after the defeat that the tie has become very difficult and that it will be very complicated to come back next Wednesday at the Santiago Bernabéu. The three-goal difference seems like a big one to experience a magical night at the white fortress, but they hope to turn around a tie that seems lost.
“We have to look ahead, make sacrifices, and look together at what we can do”. ‘We have to do everything possible to turn it around’. Coming back is ‘very complicated but we are going to try from the first minute to the last’.
At the end of the match, several players appealed to the Santiago Bernabéu factor to turn the tie around. There are precedents and everyone knows about the magic that accompanies Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu. On Monday afternoon, the Whites released a motivational video showing images of the most recent comebacks by Real Madrid in the Champions League in recent years.
But appealing only to the emotions is not enough when there is a lot to improve on the pitch in order to get the expected result against an Arsenal side that hardly concedes goals and that proved to be far superior in the first leg against a Real Madrid side that hardly ran and was not sharp in attack.
The team must perform on the pitch, something that has not been happening lately. They have extraordinary players like Courtois, Rüdiger, Bellingham and Vinicius, who have also been joined this season by Kylian Mbappé, but on key nights the big stars have not always appeared. The greats.
The defense, a sieve
Without doubt one of the most important things to improve in order to mount a comeback is that not a single Arsenal goal can be conceded at the Bernabéu. To achieve this, the defense must improve by 200% as this season the bleeding has been constant. Nine goals conceded in the last four games is a devastating statistic. At the Emirates, 3 of the 2 goals came from set pieces after fouls were provoked in dangerous areas and partly due to a horrible defensive wall.
Ceballos to fix the engine room
The team’s engine room, in which, after the injury to Ceballos, there has been a worrying lack of ideas that has only been solved by the attacking players with their finishing, has been another of the problems that the Whites blamed in London. The Seville player is now back and is Ancelotti’s secret weapon for getting the best out of his players.
Improve the connection up front
There have also been problems up front, such as the lack of connection between the attacking players. Vinicius, once the leader in that area and the one who used to carry the team on his back, has been eclipsed by Mbappé but also by himself, far from his best.
Ancelotti has had to fix all this during the week if he wants the comeback to be a real possibility beyond the sentimental aspect that no one doubts will be very present in a Santiago Bernabéu that has seemed magical on many occasions. The Italian coach is aware that his job is on the line and we will have to see what happens this Wednesday, April 16th, from 9 p.m. onwards.