The Spanish giants fell to their first defeat of the season in Sunday’s derby against Atletico Madrid.
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti attributed the 3-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid to a defensive fragility.
On Sunday, Real Madrid’s unbeaten start to the season came to an abrupt halt. They suffered a 3-1 loss to arch-rivals Atletico Madrid in a heated derby clash. The result left them in third place in the La Liga standings with 15 points, trailing FC Barcelona and Girona by a solitary point.
“The problem was defensive fragility, which we haven’t had in our first few games,” Ancelotti said in a press conference afterward.
“In six games [this season], we had conceded three goals, and today we conceded three in 45 minutes,” he lamented.
Ancelotti refrained from singling out individual players but emphasized that the defensive unit as a whole failed to perform up to par.
The Italian noted that the goals Atletico scored were eerily similar. Their attackers exploited gaps in the center-back positions to snatch the three points. Alvaro Morata and Antoine Griezmann were the heroes for Atletico, with the former scoring twice in the game.
Toni Kroos managed to notch a goal for Real Madrid, who will next face Las Palmas at home on Wednesday.