The Italian returned to a Champions League match in 2015 as an example of what can happen to a reckless Madrid.
“I know football. Everything can change in three days. “This quote from Carlo Ancelotti, made in 2021, applies to any time – including this. Real Madrid drove high after their victory against Manchester City, but they have now been brought back to the reality of Laliga.
Their struggles are partly due to their own versions and partly to referee troubles. With only two points of their last nine, their lead has evaporated on Atlético and Barcelona.
Now they have to shift the focus to the Champions League, where they will defend their benefit against Manchester City in the Bernabéu on Sunday, on their way to the round of 16. Defending an advantage – a scenario that Madrid has not handled properly in recent years – is – is – is Did not handle well – is not good. A situation that Ancelotti knows all too well.
In fact, the first enchantment of the Italian coach in Madrid left him with a persistent trauma that makes him carefully and quickly to cut off every premature triumphalism. During the 2014-15 season, his second after winning the Copa del Rey and Champions League in 2013-14, Madrid started well. They won the European Super Cup but lost the Spanish Super Cup to Atlético.
After some turbulence, the team found its pass and settled in a 4-4-2 formation with Isco and James in midfield and Cristiano and Benzema in front. They went on a 22-game winning streak-one record for the club and one of Europe's best (Ajax has the record with 26).
However, things are unraveled as soon as 2015 started with a defeat in Mestalla. A team once ready for a treble ended empty -handed in large competitions, where only the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup were obtained (both based on the success of the previous season). In the meantime, Barcelona – who had been on the edge of fired Luis Enrique – suggested the season with the Treble and beat it by beating Juventus in Berlin.
Ancelotti, once on the right track to become Madrid's long -term leader, was rejected. Rafa Benítez replaced him – a mistake that Madrid quickly corrected by Zidane, the former assistant of Ancelotti and a coach with a similar profile.
A moment from that season stands out for Ancelotti as a clear example of what recklessness can do with a team. In the Champions League round of 16, Madrid faced Schalke – a team that they had easily defeated in both legs last season. Madrid achieved a solid 0-2 victory in Germany, and the return bone seemed like a formality. Schalke, led by a young Leroy Sané, almost pulled a stunning upset. They won 3-4 and arrived in a mustache hair of scoring a fifth goal that Madrid would have eliminated about the road target. After the game, Ancelotti's analysis was grim: “We won't go that far. We played so much that it is very difficult to explain – or very easy. Everything has failed. “
Ancelotti has worn that memory with him since then. He has reminded it several times over the years, the most recently last season after the round of 16 second stage against another German side, Leipzig. Madrid had a 0-1 lead from the first stage, but the return bone was shaky and they were right after bad play and barely avoided extra time. “We suffer again,” said Ancelotti. 'The same thing happened last year with Liverpool. And in my first enchantment it happened with Schalke. We won 2-0 there, but here we lost 3-4 … “
Madrid's struggles have continued with defensive benefits in Europe. In 2017-18 they defeated Juventus 0-3 away, but saw 0-3 in the return bone at home. Cristiano saved the draw with a late penalty after a controversial challenge from Benatia on Lucas Vázquez.
And in 2021-22, again under Ancelotti, Madrid took a 1-3 lead in Chelsea, but the London side stormed back with a 0-3 lead in the return bone. The goal of Rodrigo eventually forced extra time and Benzema eventually avoided punishments – but the fear lingers for Ancelotti, just like that night against Schalke.
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