Carlo Ancelotti regretted the missed opportunities of Real Madrid against Valencia, but urged his players to regain their focus for the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
Madrid suffered a 2-1 defeat against Valencia on Saturday, with Mouctar Diakhaby and Hugo Duro the goals for the visitors. Vinicius Junior was equalized for Los Blancos, because he had not converted an early fine.
Valencia, who takes their first road winning of the season, made leaders Barcelona a great favor by stunning their title Rivals, thanks to a brilliant version of Giorgi Mhamardashvili, who made eight Saves, including one to deny Vinicius of the place.
Madrid had 21 chances on Valencia worth 3.47 expected goals (XG), with nine of those shots that hit the target. In the meantime, Valencia had 10 attempts and scored with both efforts on the goal.
Second place Madrid has 63 points of 30 games, four points behind Barcelona, who missed the chance to clearly move six points after drawing with real betis later on Saturday.
The chances of Madrid to win the LaLiga title have now fallen to 12.8%, according to the OPTA Supercomputer, with Barcelona the favorites with an 86.3% chance to lift the trophy.
Ancelotti acknowledged that winning LaLiga had become a long chance, but that this would not affect their Copa del Rey and Champions League campaigns.
“We have lost the chance to fight for the competition with more strength, but the [Copa del Rey final] To Barcelona and the Arsenal collision will be different, “Ancelotti told a press conference on Saturday.
“[Arsenal and Barcelona] Will attack more and the gamecript will be very different. Of course we will have to be better at the back and be effective in advance, but cannot lose the focus.
“It is a fact that it is not that difficult for our opponents to score against us at the moment. But that makes no sense to moan about it.
“This is not a deserved defeat [against Valencia]. Could we have done better? Of course, but it is not a lack of attitude. We deserved to win and it was because of details. We have to continue on Tuesday and concentrate on Arsenal. “
Ancelotti was not certain who he will mention in goal for the first stage of their quarter-final of the Champions League against Arsenal, because he was forced to start the 19-year-old Academy goalkeeper Fran Gonzalez against Valencia.
Thibaut Courtois and Ukrainian replacement Andriy Lunin were sidelined with injuries, but the Italian could not say whether one of them would be available for Tuesday's game.
“Courtois practiced [on Saturday]And he felt good about it. Because it is still unclear whether he will be good to go, we have decided not to risk playing Lunin, “said Ancelotti.
“Both have a few more days to recover, and we will see on Tuesday what options we have.”
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