Carlo Ancelotti, cautious despite Real Madrid’s comeback: “I’m going to have to decide…”

At the top of the table, Real Madrid’s 2-1 comeback win over Valencia involved all the drama a neutral could have wanted, but Carlo Ancelotti was much less pleased with what happened at Mestalla. Although clearly happy with the reaction, the Italian referred to his first-half performance as “tremendously bad.”

Che took the lead in the 27th minute through Hugo Duro, but before that he gave up three clear chances and had to thank Thibaut Courtois for not going further.

“It’s difficult to explain how bad we were in the first half and how good we were in the second, and with one less man. They are three deserved points, but we cannot show these two sides. The first half was tremendously bad, the second half tremendously good with ten.”

In the second half, Real Madrid reacted, missed a penalty and had a goal disallowed before scoring in the 85th minute.

“It bothers me that we have missed three penalties, I think I have to take responsibility for choosing who is going to take them.”

Jude Bellingham missed the penalty and, combined with Kylian Mbappé’s two misses against Athletic Club and Liverpool, it has given them an unwanted record. In the end, it was Bellingham who rescued them with a goal and an assist.

“It was a great game for him, he didn’t lose faith after missing the penalty, it gave him extra motivation. Only he can have the last 30 minutes he had. He made an extraordinary effort. “It is a well-deserved reward for the game he played.”

Eduardo Camavinga came on at left back and caused Che a lot of problems from there, but Ancelotti did not see that as the turning point of the match.

“The game had changed before. Mendy played his game, he played a good game, with Vinicius on the outside we needed something more on the inside. And Camavinga played a very good game, he has different characteristics.”

Real Madrid will be next in action in the Copa del Rey on Monday, when they travel to Deportiva Minera, before a long trip to Saudi Arabia for the Spanish Super Cup. It remains to be seen if