♦ Real Madrid held by Mallorca in La Liga opener
♦ Kylian Mbappe failed to impressive in debut in Spanish football
♦ Ancelotti lashed out at his team’s performance
A furious Carlo Ancelotti hit out at Real Madrid’s “poor attitude” after Kylian Mbappe’s La Liga debut ended in a disappointing 1-1 draw with Mallorca.
Mbappe scored on his debut in the UEFA Super Cup win over Atalanta a few days earlier but was largely anonymous against Mallorca, who held on for a draw against a Madrid side who ended the game with ten men after Ferland Mendy’s straight red card in stoppage time.
After the game, Ancelotti acknowledged that the balance of his team was all wrong as he hit out at his players for failing to approach the match with the right mindset.
“Last year I was happy with some draws, but not today,” he said. “We could have done much better.
“I don’t want to make excuses. We just had to do better, with more attitude. You can learn from these games. It’s clear where the problem is. We started the game well, but it wasn’t a good game. We need to defend better. We need more balance. We’ve said it before, we’re very offensive and balance is essential.”
Mbappe’s La Liga debut did not go to plan / Alex Caparros/GettyImages
Mbappe came under fire for his struggles meshing alongside Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo – the former assisted the latter for Madrid’s goal – and Ancelotti acknowledged that his forwards need to be more aware of how they impact the entire team.
“They swap positions sometimes. Sometimes one or the other occupies the position, depending on how they are doing,” Ancelotti explained. “The problem is that the team was too open. We have to concentrate more, as we usually do. It’s not a physical or mental problem.
“When we win the ball back, we all have to think about it together. You can think that it is a problem for the forwards, but it could be a problem for the defence, or for the midfielders. It is not a problem for one, two or three. It is a problem for a team that in this match did not understand that it was a key aspect. Mallorca played a great game defensively. The draw is correct.”