Carlo Ancelotti was relieved as Isco’s late header earned Real Madrid a 2-1 win against Real Betis, but the Italian warned his team that it has a lot ofimproving to do. In particular, Ancelotti was unhappy with how easily Madrid was opened up by Pepe Mel’s men.
“I think we can improve, which is normal,” Ancelottisaid. “We had many chances to score and a lot of good combinations, especially on the wing,” he said. “The problem was in defense. In the first half we didn’t work well together and we had a lotof problems. It was a problem of balance. There was a lot of space between our defense and midfield and Betis played very well in this area.”
He added: “If we want to play qualitysoccer, we need players like Isco and (Mesut) Ozil to do defensive work. Right now it is a normal problem, but they are generous players and we need to find the balance.” Ancelottialso bemoaned the midweek international games, which nine of his starters were involved in. “We didn’t have time to prepare,” he said. “Physically, Betis was better.”