Ancelotti hopes Bilbao defeat makes Real Madrid stronger
The Italian coach expressed hope that last night's defeat will help his team continue the season.
coach Carlo Ancelotti has expressed his dissatisfaction over his side's defeat to
Athletic Bilbaoin the Spanish Cup.
Los Blancos faced Athletic Bilbao last night at San Mamés, losing in the 89th minute with a goal from Alex Berenguer and being eliminated from the Copa del Rey. The two teams met in the Spanish Super Cup final last month, and Real Madrid won the competition 2-0.
However, last night Los Blancos lost in the absence of
Karim Benzema, who has scored 24 goals in 28 games this season, and after the game, Ancelotti claimed that Benzema's absence had a great impact on their performance.
"We're hurt because we want to win everything. I don't think it will have consequences. I only hope that it makes us stronger," he told reporters.
"We don't have players of Karim's quality. We didn't change the plan. We tried to play from the back, and we couldn't. Athletic's pressing was really great until the 70th minute.
"I think in extra time we would have had the advantage, but they scored in the last minute. We played too much on the wings. We should have used [David] Alaba and Casemiro more. It didn't go the way we wanted.
"It's not the worst game of the season. It was even until the end. I'm not surprised with how the game went."
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