Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has faulted the club’s busy fixture schedule, which forced him to rotate his squad as one of the reasons behind the team’s 3-2 loss to Villarreal on Saturday.

The Los Blancos lost despite taking the lead in the game against Santiago Bernabeu in the La Liga fixture on Saturday, with Nigerian forward Samuel Chukwueze inspiring his team to a famous victory with a brace.

The La Liga fixture was just two days after facing Barcelona in the second leg semi-final of the El Clasico Copa Del Rey fixture, where Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick to knock out Barcelona.

However, despite a Pau Torres own goal, Real Madrid were pegged back by Samuel Chukwueze at the half-hour mark. Vinicius Junior got Real Madrid back on the right track, but Villarreal were not done.

Substitute Jose Morales and another stunning Chukwueze goal have Villarreal the win on the night. After the game, Carlo Ancelotti admitted that his players did not have the right attitude for the fixture and promised that they would improve on that ahead of the UEFA Champions League fixture against Chelsea in the first-leg quarter-final tie.

“It’s hard to prepare for a match that comes in between two other matches that are much more important. I made a lot of rotations because the Barcelona game took a lot out of us physically and mentally. It was hard to be 100 percent motivated because the Barcelona game demanded a lot from us emotionally. But this defeat doesn’t change anything about our motivation for the Champions League. Wednesday’s match will be completely different. It’ll be a different story.” Ancelotti said.

The loss puts Real Madrid 12 points behind Barcelona on the La Liga table and almost effectively ends their La Liga title defense.

However, they have a chance to go for the UEFA Champions League and Copa Del Rey double as they have a final against Osasuna in the Copa Del Ray and still can go as far as the UEFA Champions League final.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu