Football: Ancelotti unhappy with Real’s defending in loss to Leipzig

Leipzig's Timo Werner celebrates scoring their third goal with Mohamed Simakan and Dominik Szoboszlai. PHOTO: REUTERS

LEIPZIG – Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said his team must improve their defending at set pieces after conceding twice at corner kicks in Tuesday’s 3-2 Champions League defeat by RB Leipzig.

Josko Gvardiol and Christopher Nkunku put Leipzig 2-0 up after 18 minutes in Germany after Real failed to deal with corners, as the Spanish and European champions suffered their first defeat of the season after 17 games.

“We weren’t paying attention to the ball and conceded twice, which we’re usually much more convincing at doing,” said Ancelotti, who was without Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema as well as Luka Modric and Fede Valverde.

“I haven’t seen a lack of intensity or attitude. Sooner or later, a defeat had to come, I’ve said it before. It is a defeat that hurts, because all defeats hurt, but some less than others because we still have another chance to finish first.”

Real, who have already qualified for the last 16, top Group F on 10 points, one ahead of Leipzig, with Shakhtar Donetsk on six. Celtic are bottom with two points.

The silver lining, Ancelotti added, is that it would allow Real to identify their weaknesses.

“With a defeat, you learn more than with 10 wins in a row,” said the Italian, whose side scored via Vinicius Junior and a Rodrygo strike in stoppage time. “Because we are going to focus more on what has not gone well, which has mainly followed defensive set pieces, where we have conceded two goals.”

Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois admitted the team were “very distracted” in the beginning of the game.

The Belgian told Movistar Plus: “We were caught sleeping against a team that is very aggressive. Coach Carlo warned us before the game they are a feisty team at home, very aggressive, but we still started slow and paid the price.

“It’s unacceptable, our performance in the beginning of the match, we can’t concede two goals from corners in the start of the match.”

Leipzig, meanwhile, took a big step towards the knockout stage, thanks to a third goal from Timo Werner. The German side will need only a draw against Shakhtar next week to qualify.

“We knew Madrid were strong on the ball and there would be phases where we were pushed back,” said Werner. “(Coach Marco) Rose told us to be brave when in possession and that’s what we did.

“We have achieved what we wanted. We have it in our own hands (to go through to the last 16) and don’t even need to win against Shakhtar now.” REUTERS, AFP

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