The coach was critical of his team's defensive woes from corners, which reared its head again at Ludogorets on Wednesday, and explained his rotation reasoning
Real Madrid's dodgy defending from set pieces must be addressed, Carlo Ancelotti has admitted, after it nearly cost them an embarrassing result against Ludogorets on Wednesday.
Marcelinho put the hosts into a shock lead in Bulgaria from a corner and, although a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty and Karim Benzema late goal gave the visitors all three points in the end, their corner marking went close to being the Blancos' downfall, and not for the first time this season.
Although he claimed to be pleased with the Champions League group stage performances, Ancelotti conceded that there is work which needs to be done to better their defence from set pieces especially.
"We had many chances to score," the Santiago Bernabeu coach told Canal+. "I am satisfied, the start for us was not good, to concede a goal from a corner again, that might have complicated things.
"But the reaction from us was good. The team played with good attacking nous and are physically very fit in this period. We had many chances and we could have scored again at the end. We won with merit.
"We must continue to work to fix our corner problem. It's the same type of goal we conceded against Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad. There should be better coverage at the near post, for instance. We are paying attention to this, though."
Ancelotti opted to rest a few regular starters against Ludogorets, including James Rodriguez, Toni Kroos and Karim Benzema, the latter of whom came off the bench to save Madrid's blushes.
The coach explained his decision to start with Javier Hernandez, Isco and Asier Illarramendi was to keep motivation high and prevent fatigue for regular starters, while insisting Cristiano Ronaldo's knock is not a major issue.
"I wanted to rest Karim, who has played a lot so far," Ancelotti added. "Chicharito had a good game, he did not score but his performance was good.
"The first reason for the changes was to give rest to some who have played a lot like Kroos, James and Karim. The other reason is to motivate Isco, Illarra, James and all the staff.
"Cristiano has only a bruised ankle, I don't think it's anything serious. He's a bit sore, but nothing serious."
Ancelotti also expressed his surprise that Basel had defeated Liverpool 1-0 on Wednesday, opening up the race for the top two spots in Group B though Madrid are three points adrift of both clubs still.
"It is rather surprising, the Liverpool result, but this is the Champions League, all games are tough and you have to fight for your place in the competition," the former Chelsea boss added. "But the group is looking good for us."
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