Ancelotti blamed bad luck when he lost to Barca
"Real played well with and without the ball, creating many chances, but the negative thing is the result," Ancelotti said after the game. "It's strange that the ball hit the wooden frame five times in one game."
At AT&T, Texas on July 29, Real played better when controlling the ball 53%, finishing 29 times with five shots on target - compared to Barca's 12 and 7. In which, Vinicius had 11 shots, Rodrygo had five and Joselu had two shots in the last 17 minutes. The royal team also had 16 shots in the box, compared to the opponent's seven, but were unable to score.
Real even hit Barca's wooden frame five times, with the first coming in the 20th minute. They were awarded a penalty after the ball touched the ball in the penalty area of Ronald Araujo, but Vinicius hit the bar again. In the 39th minute, the Brazilian striker continued to hit the crossbar from close range, then rookie Jude Bellingham rushed in and hit the column. Vinicius has another time to hit the Barca wooden frame. At the beginning of the second half, it was Aurelien Tchouameni's turn to fire a cannon from outside the penalty area to hit the post, bouncing on goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen but not going into the net.
Wasting the opportunity, Real let Barca concede three times and received the first defeat in the pre-season tour. Previously, the royal team won against AC Milan 3-2 and defeated Man Utd 2-0.
Without Karim Benzema, Ancelotti continued to experiment with the diamond scheme with four midfielders Jude Bellingham, Eduardo Camavinga, Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni. The attack is a combination of Brazilian strikers Vinicius and Rodrygo. Real's starting lineup has an average age of 25.7, when two veterans Toni Kroos and Luka Modric are in reserve.
When asked about the decision, Ancelotti explained: "I want to see young players play in a demanding game like this, and I think they did well. I already know what Kroos and Modric do. I can do it. In the next games I'll spend more minutes with the others. That's the normal approach in pre-season."
Vinicius was pushed to the kick and took the responsibility of taking the penalty instead of Benzema. The 23-year-old player took many penalties in training sessions in the US, but missed the first time in the official match. Ancelotti defended his players, saying that Vinicius was adapting to his new role and remained the standout player on the pitch despite not scoring.
Ancelotti revealed Ferland Mendy - who made way for Francisco Garcia early in the second half - muscle injury, but the severity is unknown. The Italian coach also confirmed rookie Arda Guler has a knee injury and has returned to Madrid to begin the recovery process. Earlier, the Real homepage said that the time frame for Guler to recover depends on the severity of the injury, and "Turkish Messi" may need surgery.
On August 3, Real played the last friendly match against Juventus at Camping World, Florida before being a guest of Bilbao in the first round of La Liga season 2023-2024 on August 12.
