Real Madrid have lost a Champions League quarter-final tie for the first time in 21 years.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid were sent crashing out of the UEFA Champions League in dramatic fashion on Wednesday night, falling 2-1 at home to Arsenal and suffering a humbling 5-1 aggregate defeat in the quarter-finals. It marked a rare low point in Ancelotti’s glittering European career, just a year after he lifted his record-extending fifth Champions League trophy with Los Blancos.
“We have to be honest,” Ancelotti admitted post-match. “In the two games Arsenal have deserved it and have reached the semi-finals. There are two sides to football—the happy part that has happened to us many times, and the sad part we have to handle in the same way.”
There was early hope for the home side at the Bernabéu when Thibaut Courtois saved Bukayo Saka’s penalty, and moments later, Real were awarded one of their own after a seemingly soft push by Declan Rice on Kylian Mbappé. However, a lengthy VAR review overturned the decision, and from that moment on, Madrid never looked like mounting a comeback.
“To change the dynamic, we needed something positive, like the penalty he whistled and then took off,” Ancelotti reflected. “We needed something to have more confidence, but we were not able to change the dynamic of the first leg.”
Arsenal’s dominant aggregate win marked one of the most comprehensive eliminations of Madrid in recent memory, bringing their pursuit of a record 16th European Cup crown to a jarring halt. Despite the disappointment, Ancelotti was quick to remind fans that the season is far from over.
“Now we are in the fight for La Liga. We have a disadvantage, but we have the Barcelona game, we have the Copa del Rey final, the Club World Cup,” he said. “We have to manage this part of the season, which is another part of football we’re not used to.”
With Real four points adrift of league leaders Barcelona and still competing on multiple fronts, Ancelotti called for resilience from his squad:
“It’s time to hold our heads high and learn from our mistakes. It’s sad today, but I have absolutely no worries about how my players will respond. We’ll fight on, we’ll learn from the experience and we’ll try to be better for the next match.”
