Izuchukwu Okosi
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La Liga leaders Real Madrid started 2022 in the worst possible way on Sunday dropping three points away at Getafe as they fell to a 1-0 defeat and that has drawn the ire of manager Carlo Ancelotti.
Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti admits the players were poor on the day and played as if they were still on holiday.
Analysing the game as a whole, the Italian tactician said: “We reacted well for the first 10 minutes after conceding, but then we got nervous and lost some duels.
“There’s not much to say about this match. We stayed on holiday for an extra day. It can be difficult after the Christmas break, but we don’t want excuses. We didn’t play well. It’s not a criticism or drama.
“Yesterday, the players looked sharp. But, today they weren’t. This wasn’t the team that we saw before Christmas. It was a different team, with less concentration and less commitment.
“I don’t think we deserved to lose and I think a draw would have been fair, but maybe this loss can be a wake-up call because we were still on holiday today.”
It was an individual mistake from Éder Militão that led to Getafe’s goal, but Ancelotti doesn’t want to single out any player for this defeat.
Asked if he would pick out individuals who were at fault, he replied: “No, absolutely not. There were some who didn’t have a good match, but I’m not singling out anyone. For example, Benzema didn’t have a great game. But, you can’t single out Benzema.”
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
