Real Madrid’s hopes of defending their La Liga title crown were blown apart by a 4-3 El Clasico defeat at Barcelona.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side needed a win on the road in Catalonia to keep their faint hops alive but Los Blancos were simply overpowered by the rampant hosts.
Kylian Mbappe’s hat-trick kept Real Madrid in the game, either side of Barcelona scoring four times in the first-half, but the end result leaves Ancelotti’s campaign in tatters.
The Italian is expected to leave at the end of the month – with Xabi Alonso on standby to come in – as Barcelona close in on the title in Hansi Flick’s debut campaign.
The key statistic at the end of the game is Barcelona now hold a seven-point lead at the top of the La Liga rankings with three games to play.
A frustrated Ancelotti cited Real Madrid’s defensive injury crisis in his post-match press conference and he also rejected rumours of an argument with Brazil international Rodrygo Goes.
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What did Carlo Ancelotti say about Rodrygo after El Clasico defeat?
Rodrygo missed Real Madrid’s 3-2 win over Celta Vigo on May 4 after being substituted in the Copa del Rey final loss to Barcelona the previous week.
Ancelotti stuck with an unchanged team at the Estadi OlĂmpic LluĂs Companys, with his No.11 named on the bench, after he failed to recover from injury sufficiently to start.
A mix of injury recovery – and a virus picked up in midweek – meant Ancelotti was not confident enough to start the 24-year-old.
However, as Real Madrid chased a goal late on, Ancelotti threw on teenager Endrick Felipe and debutant VĂctor Muñoz, instead of Rodrygo.
That raised questions over the situation with the 24-year-old forward, who has been linked with a summer switch to the Premier League, but Ancelotti claimed it was more simple.
“He had recovered, but he was not feeling well,” as per quotes from Marca.
“There’s nothing wrong, I have zero problems with him. He wasn’t at 100%. If you put him in for five or seven minutes, not at 100%, you’re only getting injured.
“We mustn’t forget that we were missing five defenders at Barcelona, we mustn’t forget that. Now, Vinicius is injured, he could not finish the game.”
Ancelotti now needs major slip ups from Barcelona to stand any chance of retaining the title as his side host Mallorca on May 14, travel to Sevilla four days later, and round off the season at home to Real Sociedad on May 25.
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