Real Madrid aren’t used to this.
After losing 4-0 at home to Barcelona in the Clasico 10 days ago, Carlo Ancelotti’s side fell to a 3-1 defeat to AC Milan at the Santiago Bernabeu in the Champions League.
Malick Thiaw headed Milan in front after a pinpoint Christian Pulisic delivery in the 12th minute, before Vinicius Junior seemed to put his Ballon d’Or disappointment behind him with a 23rd-minute Panenka penalty.
But the former Madrid striker Alvaro Morata then restored Milan’s lead in the 39th minute after poor defending from Los Blancos. Tijjani Reijnders capped a brilliant performance with a fine goal in the 73rd minute to complete the win — after a late goal from the Madrid centre-back Antonio Rudiger was ruled out for an offside in the build-up.
That ended a 15-game unbeaten Champions League run for Madrid at the Bernabeu. Ancelotti’s side have won two and lost two of their four matches in this season’s competition, leaving them 17th out of 36 teams in the league phase.
So, what went so wrong for the Spanish side and so right for Milan?
Guillermo Rai and Anantaajith Raghuraman break it down.
Madrid’s defence falls short again
Once again, Carlo Ancelotti’s team started the game at a disadvantage due to defensive problems.
After a brilliantly taken corner by Pulisic, Thiaw headed past the Madrid defence. Both Eder Militao and Aurelien Tchouameni failed to mark the German centre-back and came nowhere near to clearing the danger. The French midfielder was replaced at half-time after being whistled by the Santiago Bernabeu crowd.
Thiaw’s effort was the sixth time Los Blancos have conceded first this season and the third time that’s hpapened in the Champions League. They’ve only kept a clean sheet in one of their last 10 games in all competitions.
Pulisic swings a corner in with Madrid seemingly well covered in the box… (TNT Sports)
But Thiaw doesn’t even have to rise highest to head home (TNT Sports)
It was a far cry from last season’s defensive robustness, when they broke their record for clean sheets in La Liga (20) en route to winning the title. Their attacking and defending from set-pieces were also key in that La Liga-Champions League double. Butthis was the third goal they had conceded from a set-piece situation this season, excluding penalties — only two less than the whole of the last campaign.
After the goal, Militao was again forced into a clearance from another Pulisic delivery while goalkeeper Andriy Lunin had to make a good save. Lunin had to talk to Militao after those two moments to get the Brazilian to adjust the defence.
But the problems continued and, despite Vinicius Jr’s goal, the lack of defensive stability continued. Just a few minutes later, a poor pass from Tchouameni led to another Milan attacking move.
Lunin saved the first shot, but Morata was left alone inside the box and slotted his side’s second. Madrid have now conceded 17 goals this season — one of the biggest problems for Ancelotti, if not the biggest.
The poor defending continued after the break, with Lunin having to make a flying save to keep out a Rafael Leao header and Milan finding plenty of joy on the break. And they were cut open again for Milan’s third.
Guillermo Rai
How did Vinicius Jr respond to missing out on Ballon d’Or?
On the back of an ineffective display in El Clasico and missing out on the Ballon d’Or to Manchester City’s Rodri, all eyes were inevitably on Vinicius Jr tonight. Milan also opted for a tactical set-up aimed at helping right-back Emerson Royal stifle the winger with the help of Yunus Musah.
Real Madrid’s initial ploy seemed to revolve around switching play to stretch out Milan’s defence, with Luka Modric attempting multiple switches and balls over the top. Vinicius Jr met one of those in the second minute, but a heavy touch saw it run behind for a goal-kick. In the sixth minute, he played a neat one-two with Kylian Mbappe to create an opening, but the French international could not sort his feet out from Federico Valverde’s cross.
Vinicius Jr’s next involvement in attack came seconds after Madrid went 1-0 down after Thiaw’s header. After Maignan stopped Mbappe’s shot, Milan gave the ball away high up the pitch. Jude Bellingham slipped in Vinicius Jr, whose shot was comfortably saved by Maignan.
His best moment came in the 23rd minute, when he won a penalty from Royal, who clipped him with a mistimed tackle. Vinicius Jr dispatched the spot-kick with a cheeky panenka to bring the sides level.
Vinicius Jr is brought down by Royal… (Manu Reino/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
… and coolly slots home (Mateo Villalba/Getty Images)
There were some theatrics from the Brazilian afterwards when Maignan appeared to lightly touch his heel while taking a quick free-kick, which prompted former Madrid star Steve McManaman to express his disappointment on commentary for TNT Sports. Soon after, Tchouameni’s poor pass forwards to Vinicius Jr was intercepted by Milan, leading to Morata’s goal. While most of the blame should go to the midfielder, Vinicius Jr chose to berate Tchouameni rather than track back.
Madrid’s press from the front remained a problem for much of the game, with both Vinicius Jr and Mbappe showing a lack of off-the-ball work. Madrid’s midfield did not cover itself in glory either and were often indecisive in closing down a free Milan midfielder, but they could have done with more support from their superstar forwards.
Vinicius Jr was also left frustrated in the second half. He struggled to see any clear-cut openings, while the chances he created, including a great late opportunity for Militao, were wasted. He also lost a couple of physical battles with Musah and Thiaw, and was booked for dissent after the latter dispossessed him.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Reijnders the key to Milan’s impressive display
Many of Milan’s players will come away from this memorable night with immense credit, but Reijnders was undoubtedly the heartbeat of a thrilling away victory.
Madrid’s absent pressing when Milan got past their forwards — which did not require too much effort — allowed Reijnders to control the game from midfield. He constantly dropped to receive the ball from his defence and was given time on the ball, which allowed him to find Milan’s forwards in dangerous areas.
In the second half, Reijnders showed much more defensive awareness and his ability to dictate the tempo was crucial to Milan not conceding early — an aspect that doomed Borussia Dortmund in Madrid’s previous Champions League game. He continued to spray passes across the pitch and, as Madrid poured men forward, spaces opened up for Milan to exploit and his ability to wriggle away from danger was crucial.
That quality ultimately brought Milan their third goal as well. Some neat work from Tammy Abraham saw Reijnders receive the ball, who was under pressure from three Madrid players. He took a series of quick touches before a quick burst of pace allowed him to escape them all and find Leao, who bore down on goal before fizzing the ball into the box. Meeting the cutback was Reijnders, who had raced past his inattentive markers. The ball was marginally behind him and came at great pace, but the Dutchman controlled it with ease and, with all the time in the world, slammed a half volley passed Lunin to make it 3-1 to Milan.
Reijnders completed all but one of his 52 passes, got two shots on target and won two duels in one of the most accomplished midfield performances in a Champions League game at the Bernabeu since Dusan Tadic pulled the strings in Ajax’s famous 4-1 semifinal win back in 2019. For Madrid, it seemed like deja vu after Pedri and Frenkie de Jong toyed with them for Barca less than two weeks ago.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Defeat leaves Ancelotti in uncomfortable position
Just two months ago, in Monte Carlo after the Champions League draw, Real Madrid’s director of institutional relations Emilio Butragueno was asked what the team’s objective in the competition was: “It is very important to be in the top eight (in the league standings) because we would avoid an additional play-off before the last 16.”
But as of today, Madrid are far from the top positions. After two defeats against Lille and this one against AC Milan, Ancelotti’s side find themselves in 17th place, with two wins and two defeats.
The future does not look much brighter: their next game is at Anfield against Liverpool, so they will have to try and find their form again if they want to reach the next round without drama.
In any case, this latest defeat shows that the team has lost their invincibility at home in the Champions League — with 15 games unbeaten at the Bernabeu in the competition before tonight.
The doubts about their style of play and the succession of negative results leaves Ancelotti and his coaching staff in an uncomfortable position. While the board didn’t consider making drastic changes after the Barcelona game after all the Italian has achieved in the last three years, it remains to be seen how they can improve things.
The next game before the international break is against Osasuna on Saturday and will provide them with a good opportunity to regain confidence. But what is certain is that this is the toughest moment of Ancelotti’s second spell at Madrid.
Guillermo Rai
What did Carlo Ancelotti say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for Real Madrid?
Saturday, November 9: Osasuna (H), La Liga, 1pm GMT, 8am ET
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(Top photo: Oscar del Pozo/AFP via Getty Images)
