Ancelotti realistic about Real Madrid´s Champions League chances after Arsenal defeat

Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti acknowledged that his team has a low chance of reaching the semi-final of the Champions League after their 3-0 defeat at Arsenal on Tuesday in the quarter-final first leg.

Declan Rice scored two brilliant free kicks and Mikel Merino finished well in the second half to leave the 15-time European champions on the edge of elimination.

Real Madrid ed just three shots on target and failed to threaten throughout the game.

“Normally this team raise their game towards the end of games,” Ancelotti told reporters.

“It was disappointing, it was poor. We have to be critical of ourselves here and do everything we can next week to recover.”

While the Italian did suggest that his team “were not bad throughout large stretches of the game”, he was under no illusions that their level of performance must be much better in the second leg next week.

Arsenal ed 11 shots on target against Madrid.

That’s the t-most on record (since 2003-04) by a team in a UCL knockout stage game against Real Madrid (11 by Liverpool in March 2009) #ARSRMA pic.twitter.com/09iygoOVeO

— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) April 8, 2025

Real Madrid do have some history on their side as well, with a formidable record of improbable comebacks at the Bernabeu.

They have, though, only once overturned a three-goal first-leg deficit, against Derby County in the 1975-76 season after a 4-1 defeat at the Baseball Ground.

But Ancelotti was more realistic with his outlook, though did warn that the tie was not completely over yet.

“The possibilities [of qualifying] are quite low, but we have to try 100%. We have to do all we can, it’s an opportunity to show a response to a poor game,” he said.

“If you look at the game tonight, there is no possibility. But football changes. Nobody expected that Rice scores two goals from set pieces.

“In football, everything can happen. We need to believe, we need to have trust because, sometimes, a lot of time in the Bernabeu, it happened.”