Real Madrid manager admits 'El Clasico defeat is my fault'

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti was the first to admit his mistakes that led to the 4-0 thrashing they received at the hands of FC Barcelona at El Clasico on Sunday evening. The Italian apologised to the Santiago Bernabeu crowd after saying that he was not able to get his tactics right.

Even FC Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez admitted that it was shocking to see his side dominate so comfortably over the league leaders. Real Madrid currently sit on top of the La Liga Santander table with 66 points, nine points clear of Sevilla. Barcelona meanwhile, are 12 points behind the leaders after last night's result.

After a stunning victory over PSG in the Champions League earlier this month and a clean run in La Liga, Ancelotti said that the squad was completely out of its element on Sunday. "We were not recognisable, everything went wrong. I told the players that [the defeat] was my fault," Ancelotti said in his post-match debrief.

The Italian had to find an alternative solution when it became clear that Karim Benzema could not recover in time for the match. However, instead of relying on the likes of Luka Jovic and Mariano Diaz to fill the centre-forward role, he opted to play Luka Modric in a false nine position alongside Vinicius Jr. and flanked by Rodrygo and Fede Valverde. Casemiro and Toni Kroos took care of the midfield while both Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale were nowhere to be seen.

The lineup clearly did not work, and even the introduction of substitutes Marco Asensio, Lucas Vazquez, Mariano Diaz and Eduardo Camavinga did not help the home side.

When asked to comment about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's foul on Toni Kroos that many think should have warranted a yellow card n the opening minutes, Ancelotti said that he did not like it but it would not have changed the result of the match.

"I don't understand it, but I'm not going into it because I don't want to make excuses. We played very badly and we approached the game very badly," he admitted.

Despite the setback, Ancelotti wants to remain focused on finishing strong. Los Blancos still have a nine-point lead at the top of the table, and are facing Chelsea FC in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

"We have time to gather our energy and prepare for the last two months of the season to win trophies. We would have done what we needed to do so far: nine points ahead of [Sevilla in] second and into the quarter-finals of the Champions League," he said, as quoted by Marca.