Real Madrid criticism ‘fair’ in disappointing CL loss to Lille- Ancelotti

Real Madrid boss, Carlo Ancelotti said the criticism of Los Blancos’ loss on matchday 2 against Lilee was “fair” and that the team “shouldn’t look for excuses” after putting up a harrowing performance against the Ligue 1 side. 

Jonathan David’s spot king just before halftime- after VAR had identified Eduardo Camavinga’s handball- was the match's only goal. 

Endrick and Vinicius Junior had first-half chances for the visitors, while Jude Bellingham, Antonio Rudiger and Arda Guler all went close late in the match. 

“The opponent played better, and deserved to win," Ancelotti said in the post-match conference. "In terms of duels, intensity, consistency. We have to learn what we have to improve, which is quite obvious, it isn't very complicated.

"Today everything was quite bad. We were bad with the ball. It was hard for us to win the ball back. It was hard for us to transition. We needed to be more aggressive.

"The feeling today is that it was hard for us to create. Our possession of the ball was quite slow, with few ideas. We have forwards who need to play more vertically. If it's hard for you to control the ball, and it gets to the forwards slowly, it's a problem."

"I don't know if we lacked aggression or creativity," goalkeeper Andriy Lunin said. "Maybe we should have fought a bit more. In the second half we were hungrier, we improved."

The outcome leaves the reigning champions with three points from two Champions League phase matches and in 17th position in the 36-team standings. 

"The sadness comes from the feeling of the team, that it wasn't a good game," Ancelotti said. "It wasn't a good night, we shouldn't look for excuses, we have to improve.

"I'm very honest. Criticism for today's game is fair, correct, we have to accept it."

The only thing positive for Madrid yesterday was the first Champions League start for Endrick after the young sensation scored from the bench against Stuttgart on his competition debut. 

The forward became the youngest Madrid player to start a Champions League fixture, shattering Raul Gonzalesz’s record, aged 18 years and 73 days. 

"It's an incredible feeling," Endrick told Movistar. "I'm at the biggest club in the world. It's hard to play from the start. It's very important for me, I'm very happy because of that, but not with the defeat."