Ancelotti’s Real Madrid trauma: “we won’t get very far like this”

“I know football. In three days, everything can change.” This quote from Carlo Ancelotti, made back in 2021, applies to any moment—including this one. Real Madrid were riding high after their win at against Manchester City, but they’ve now been brought back to the reality of LaLiga.

Their struggles are due in part to their own performances and partly to refereeing controversies. With just two points from their last nine, their lead over Atlético and Barcelona has evaporated.

Now, they must shift focus to the Champions League, where they will defend their advantage against Manchester City at the Bernabéu on Sunday, heading into the round of 16. Defending an advantage—a scenario Madrid hasn’t handled well in recent years—is a situation Ancelotti knows all too well.

In fact, the Italian coach’s first spell at Madrid left him with a lingering trauma that makes him cautious and quick to cut off any premature triumphalism. During the 2014-15 season, his second after winning the Copa del Rey and Champions League in 2013-14, Madrid started well. They won the European Super Cup but lost the Spanish Super Cup to Atlético.

After some turbulence, the team found its stride, settling into a 4-4-2 formation with Isco and James in midfield and Cristiano and Benzema up front. They went on a 22-game winning streak—a record for the club and one of Europe’s best (Ajax holds the record with 26).

However, things unraveled as soon as 2015 began with a defeat at Mestalla. A team once poised for a treble ended up empty-handed in major competitions, securing only the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup (both based on the previous season’s success). Meanwhile, Barcelona—who had been on the brink of sacking Luis Enrique—closed the season with the treble, capping it off by defeating Juventus in Berlin.

Ancelotti, once on track to become Madrid’s long-term leader, was dismissed. Rafa Benítez replaced him—a mistake that Madrid quickly corrected by appointing Zidane, Ancelotti’s former assistant and a coach with a similar profile.

One moment from that season stands out for Ancelotti as a clear example of what overconfidence can do to a team. In the Champions League round of 16, Madrid faced Schalke—a team they had beaten easily in both legs the previous season. Madrid earned a solid 0-2 win in Germany, and the return leg seemed like a formality. However, Schalke, led by a young Leroy Sané, nearly pulled off a stunning upset. They won 3-4 and came within a whisker of scoring a fifth goal that would have eliminated Madrid on the away-goal rule. After the match, Ancelotti’s analysis was grim: “We won’t go very far like this. We played so badly that it’s very difficult to explain—or very easy. Everything failed.”

Ancelotti has carried that memory with him ever since. He’s recalled it several times over the years, most recently last season after the round-of-16 second leg against another German side, Leipzig. Madrid had a 0-1 lead from the first leg, but the return leg was shaky—they equalized after playing poorly and barely avoided extra time. “We are suffering again,” Ancelotti said. ”The same thing happened last year with Liverpool. And in my first spell, it happened with Schalke. We won there 2-0, but here we lost 3-4…”

Madrid’s struggles with defending advantages in Europe have continued. In 2017-18, they beat Juventus 0-3 away but found themselves trailing 0-3 at home in the return leg. Cristiano salvaged the tie with a late penalty after a controversial challenge by Benatia on Lucas Vázquez.

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And in 2021-22, again under Ancelotti, Madrid took a 1-3 lead at Chelsea, but the London side stormed back with a 0-3 lead in the return leg. Rodrigo’s goal forced extra time, and Benzema eventually avoided penalties—but the scare still lingers for Ancelotti, as does that night against Schalke.

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