Lille loss a reality check for Madrid: Ancelotti
Carlo Ancelotti is hopeful Real Madrid can bounce back from its shock UEFA Champions League loss to Lille, despite the short turnaround before its LaLiga meeting with Villarreal.
Madrid returns to domestic action on the back of the 1-0 defeat to the Ligue 1 side, with Jonathan David's penalty enough to deny the current UEFA Champions League holder a victory.
It also ended a 36-match unbeaten run in all competitions and was its first UEFA Champions League group-stage defeat since October 2022 against RB Leipzig.
Ancelotti's side has now failed to win its past two matches, having also conceded a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid last weekend, but he is confident the team will be back to winning ways soon.
"[Villarreal] is doing really well. [Sunday AEST], it's an opportunity for us to reconnect, to get back to playing good football," Ancelotti said.
"[The mood] is fine, as always. [Thursday's AEST] defeat is an opportunity, if we take it and react well. We are self-critical. There are times when you have to reconnect and you need to do it quickly.
"Sometimes a good run makes you think you're invincible, but a defeat brings you back to reality. We are still not at our level, we have players who are not at their best.
"We are not far from where we want to be. There is a lack of defensive intensity and, offensively, a lack of ball circulation."
Coming off a remarkable 2023-2024 season in which it won LaLiga and the UEFA Champions League double, Madrid is second in the Spanish top-flight standings on 18 points, three behind leader Barcelona and one ahead of Villarreal.
Ancelotti expects to get Kylian Mbappe back into the starting team after the forward missed last weekend's derby against Atletico and came off the bench at Lille. A hamstring injury also led to France manager Didier Deschamps leaving his captain out of the squad for next week's UEFA Nations League matches against Israel and Belgium.
"He has had a problem that seems to have been solved. He has trained normally," Ancelotti said.
"I don't get involved in what national coaches do. Deschamps has decided not to call him. We need to get the ball to the strikers quicker and we lack defensive intensity."
