Real Madrid had a very bad momentum for the Champions League quarter -finals with Arsenal at Emirates. Carlo Ancelotti's teachers and students lost 1-2 at the Bernabeu home. This result can cause Los Blancos to fail in the La Liga championship race with Barcelona when the distance between the two teams has been raised to 4 points.
This defeat of Real Madrid made a person of a lot like Carlo Ancelotti also angry. An unnamed Los Blancos player shared with The Athletic that the Italian strategist was very angry in the dressing room after the match. At the press conference, Carletto himself admitted that Real Madrid's chance of winning the championship has decreased significantly after this defeat.
One of Los Blancos' poor points in this match was the deadlock from Kylian Mbappe. It's not that the French striker didn't try, it's just that he was completely suspended. Ancelotti has seen those limitations in the attacking quartet's coordination. Everything needs to be adjusted right before the match with Arsenal.
With a defense that has witnessed many shortages since the beginning of the season, Real Madrid do not expect to concede fewer goals than last season. With Mbappe in hand, they are waiting to have more goals to make up for it. However, in reality, Real Madrid have scored 3 goals less and conceded 11 more goals than at the same stage last season.
Ancelotti admitted that after the defeat, Valencia did not take too much effort to put the ball into Real Madrid's net. The Italian coach was right, Real Madrid have an expected goals (xG) of 3.63. According to Opta, they have not lost at home at the Bernabeu in La Liga after having more shots on target than their opponents, since the match against Real Sociedad in January 2019 (21 compared to 28).
Los Blancos' midfield must support Kylian Mbappe more. The French striker has scored 19 goals and had 1 assist in 23 matches since January 3, 2025. After a brace against Leganes last weekend, he has equalized Cristiano Ronaldo's total of 33 goals in his first season at Real Madrid.
However, Mbappe's teammates did not meet the expectations. Vinicius Junior was whistled by Real Madrid fans, both in the matches against Real Sociedad in Copa del Rey and Valencia. The Brazilian striker is in disastrous form, with only 6 goals and 5 assists in 22 matches in 2025. Vinicius equalized 1-1 against Valencia but disappointed again with a missed penalty. Besides Vinicius, Rodrygo has only scored 8 goals and 5 assists after 24 matches in the same period.
Real Madrid always hate being compared to Barcelona. However, looking at the secondary parameters in the race for the La Liga championship this season, they cannot escape the situation of being placed next to Blaugrana. Hansi Flick's side have scored more than 20 goals and conceded two fewer than Real Madrid have so far.
On a personal level, Raphinha has scored 10 goals and 10 assists in 21 matches since the beginning of 2025 in all competitions. Robert Lewandowski has 15 goals and 1 assist after 18 matches. Lamine Yamal has 7 goals and 8 assists after 21 matches.
Looking at these indicators, it is clear that Barcelona is ahead of Real Madrid ahead of the Copa Del Rey final at the end of the month. However, before this El Clasico, Real Madrid need to make more efforts to deal with Arsenal first.
