Ancelotti: "The penalty affected us"

Real Madrid's defeat against Valencia, which puts the league within Barcelona's reach, silenced the Santiago Bernabéu and left Carlo Ancelotti with few explanations and a somber expression during the press conference, reflecting his immense sadness. He hasn't given up on the league yet but acknowledges it's more challenging. In three days, this team must change significantly if they want to achieve a good result in London against Arsenal in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.

"Is the league lost?" he was asked after Madrid's poor performance facilitated Valencia's first away victory in this tournament: "Now it's much more complicated to fight for the league, but we have chances, albeit much smaller. We must fight until the end," responded the Madrid coach.

Also obliged by Vinicius' missed penalty, who shot over the bar in the controversial Euroderby at the Metropolitano and allowed Mamardashvili to shine against Valencia. It's hard to believe that Kylian Mbappé, the project's leader, isn't the primary penalty taker despite also missing. "It's been a difficult season for our penalty takers. I tried to give Vinicius confidence after the Metropolitano, and he missed this one too," concluded Carletto, who said "we'll see" when pressed if Mbappé will be the taker from now on.

When trying to explain the defeat, few convincing explanations were given, beyond the usual ones: "The penalty affected us, then they scored, and then we had a goal disallowed. The small details marked us. Honestly, Madrid deserved to win the match, I think there's no doubt about that. After that, it's clear we can improve some things."

"We created many opportunities, but lacked a bit of effectiveness and struggled to recover the ball. But we conceded very little and were very close to scoring more goals. They didn't need much to score two. We took risks at the end and encountered a counterattack. We did well offensively, except we lacked effectiveness," Ancelotti insisted in his explanation.

With eyes already on Arsenal, the goalkeeping situation is concerning, as Courtois is in doubt and Lunin, also injured, didn't play against Valencia, giving the spot to young Fran González. "Courtois trained today and felt good. We didn't risk Lunin precisely because of Courtois' uncertainty. We have both options because we can recover both," reassured Ancelotti.