Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti shrugged off his team's defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League — claiming the 2-0 loss was essentially unimportant because the Spanish giant was already unlikely to finish inside the top eight spots.
Liverpool came out on top at Anfield with Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo scoring in a 2-0 win. Kylian Mbappe and Mohamed Salah both missed penalties — the former seeing his saved and the latter putting his wide of the post — with Arne Slot moving onto 17 wins from his first 19 matches in charge.
"We will qualify to the next round and we will compete as every year. You will see," Ancelotti boldly stated (via Fabrizio Romano). His side has already been defeated by AC Milan and Lille this season in the Champions League and currently sits in the 24th spot in the standings — right on the borderline for qualification with three matches remaining.
Star man Mbappe has not had the easiest time since arriving from PSG in the summer. The French forward was left out of his national team's squad for the previous international break and is currently struggling for form.
"Mbappe has all of our support and he will soon turn the situation around," Ancelotti said. "Mbappe is an extraordinary player, we must be patient. He's doing well and adapting well. We are with him.
"The penalty miss? It happens. it is not the reason we lost. We weren’t good enough as a collective, they played better. I liked the team because we competed well, but it doesn't change much because even if we won, it was difficult to be in the top eight."
Liverpool.com says: The Reds thoroughly deserved to win the game and sent a statement to the rest of Europe with this result. Even with injuries, this was still Real Madrid. Liverpool was the only side likely to go on and get the three points in the second half.