According to “Varzesh3,” Lamine Yamal, after winning the Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid, sarcastically said: “If they had scored one goal, it wouldn’t have mattered; even if they had scored two, it still wouldn’t have mattered. They won’t be our rivals this year, and that has been clearly proven.”

Iñigo Martínez went even further, directly pointing out Real Madrid’s long-standing wounds, especially criticizing their “strategy” before the final and media pressure against referees. He said at La Cartuja Stadium: “I think football won today, and that’s the most important thing.” This marked the end of the third El Clásico of the season.

Three heavy defeats in El Clásicos, losing two titles (Spanish Super Cup and Copa del Rey), and an aggregate score of 12-4 revealed a bitter reality for Real Madrid. A reality that became even more evident on Saturday when the referee blew the halftime whistle—a team that had won the Champions League and La Liga last season was now wandering the field in disarray, entering a state of “absolute survival.” Ancelotti admitted: “We were very close, but we must keep fighting. We played well tonight. I have no criticism of the team because we gave everything. If we had won, it wouldn’t have been strange.”

But the truth is, Madrid realized everything too late. In a season that was supposed to be historic, Real’s players finally understood what they lacked throughout the year, with the final results showing a general disaster. Ancelotti, after almost the entire season, finally reached his ideal lineup (though he had repeatedly claimed it was always his preference): a 4-4-2 system with Mbappé and Vinícius in attack and four midfielders to restore balance—something sorely missing this season.

Light in the Darkness

While last season Real managed to find a balance between attack and defense, this season such balance was almost never seen. The team’s attacking prowess (which itself was sometimes ineffective) was completely nullified by severe defensive weaknesses. Every quick counterattack from the opponent turned into a real nightmare for Ancelotti’s team—a team whose attackers either forgot or refused to defend. With a weakened midfield and constant rotation of the starting lineup, the attacking players, despite being in good physical condition, were rarely substituted and failed to stop the opposition. The result? A defensive line left completely isolated and, of course, defenders who themselves often underperformed.

However, the change in system has given the team more cohesion while also organizing more structured attacks with higher movement. Seventy-five minutes of excellent football (45 in the second half and 30 in extra time) in the Copa del Rey final offer a glimmer of hope for the remainder of the season in La Liga and the Club World Cup—a season Real Madrid began dreaming of the first-ever “septuple” in sports history.

Unbelievable Changes

The idea that the most successful coach in Real Madrid’s history (with 15 titles) could be in a shaky position seems insane, but this is the heavy pressure that always accompanies Real Madrid. Although this noise has never seriously affected Ancelotti, and he has always dealt with criticism calmly, this time—perhaps for the first time in his tenure at Real—he decided to make early changes in the game, a move that led to the team’s best performance of the season.

According to data, Ancelotti had made only 12 substitutions between the 50th and 60th minutes all season, but in the Copa match against Barcelona, he made three substitutions in the same period (Mbappé, Modrić, and Arda).

Ancelotti pushed the team’s line higher, a decision that disrupted Flick’s team while also being aware of the risks and open spaces created. But this boldness—unseen from him this season—displayed a cohesive and synchronized version of Real that hadn’t existed before. The team rebuilt well against Barcelona’s counterattacks and used the spaces to launch their own counters led by Vinícius and Mbappé—players who troubled the opponent’s full-backs.

Ancelotti’s statement: “If we had won, it wouldn’t have been strange” should be taken as positive motivation for Real to fight in La Liga and the last El Clásico of the season.