Carlo Ancelotti's tactics raised eyebrows in the Spanish press, while his front four was shot for their sad display against Arsenal during the quarterfinals elimination on Wednesday
Kylian Mbappe and his Real Madrid teammates have been called a “fantastic failure” by the Spanish media after their demolition of the Champions League by Arsenal. The ruling European champions have thoroughly surpassed in the first stage of the Emirates Stadium and lost 3-0, and spent a comeback of epic proportions in their iconic Bernabeu stadium last week.
It was always an unlikely task, given how much better the Gunners looked like in their first collision, but few could have predicted how disastrous Los Blancos would be on its own ground again.
The side of Carlo Ancelotti lost 2-1 at night to make the stand of 5-1, thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli. And they were lucky that the margin was not even bigger, because Saka picked his penalty and William Saliba Vinicius Junior gave their only purpose of the draw.
The Mikel Arteta team was brilliant, apart from those mistakes, which limited Real to three shots on goal, despite the fact that they only had 33% owned. It was symbolic for the struggles with which the Spanish giants confronted the entire season to effectively gel their front four – Rodrygo, Jude Bellingham, Vinicius and Mbappe.
And after leaving their trademark competition with a whimmer, the 15-way winners were demolished by the Spanish press. Outlet Diario As used the words “it was just a dream” and “fantastic failure” to describe the elimination, while the men of Ancelotti became “ridiculous by Arsenal”.
Vervolgens vermeldde het ironisch genoeg “Fantastic Four” van Madrid, en benadrukte de impotentie van hun vier aanvallers na het beheren van slechts zes schoten op Target tegen David Raya over beide banden, en merkte op dat het een marginaal groter aantal was dan de schoten op doel door dubbele free-fre-scoring arsenal-middenfilder-midvielverkleur Rice.
“This Madrid was not made for miracles,” complained Marca, who emphasized the collective failure on his website. “Real Madrid fell in the Champions League because of their lack of football, as it was predicted the entire season. They seemed powerless.” In a daring explanation about what the next step is for Los Blancos, it added: “The end of the cycle is clear.”
Sport -Krant focused its attention on Mbappe by publishing a photo of the Frenchman, who was wounded in the 75th minute, on the front page with the head: “No champions and no Mbappe.” It turned out to him because he had tried his utmost, albeit in vain.
Mundo Deportivo also sympathized with Mbappe's efforts. “Real Madrid spent the entire season without football, without coherent play, opposing individuality, without having managed to integrate Kylian (Mbappe) into a team that seems to have tried to reconfirm that it didn't need him.
The outlet also stated how Acelotti had asked his players to play 'with Head, Heart and Balls', with former boss Carlos Alcaraz. “Madrid played with two of them. Head was missing, there was too much heart and the third was clear,” wrote MD.
Even the directing of his anger about Ancelotti's tactics, El Pais wrote: “There was no game because the piece was not fluent. There was no plan, the plan was chaos. Nothing came from that chaos. In the night when the mother was expected from all comebacks, was the most decisive player Courtois.”
There was not much dissatisfaction in the Spanish press about the decision of referee François Letexier to give Arsenal a fine and to refuse Mbappe's own profession, who would rather turn the page as quickly as possible. Arsenal will now also look ahead to their blockbuster semi-final clash with Paris Saint-Germain at home on April 29.