The goalkeeper of Real Madrid, Thibaut Courtois, asked why his teammates decided to try so many crosses in the exit of the Champions League on Wednesday.
After Madrid had fallen 3-0 in the first leg, he had to visit the Gunners on Wednesday, but it failed to really put Mikel Areta’s team a finger who scored another 2-1 victory to triumph a total of 5-1.
Vinicius Junior achieved in the second half after a big mistake by William Saliba, but most of the Madrid’s attack game concentrated on crosses. Los Blancos tried a whopping 43 crosses, but only completed seven when Saliba and Jakub Kiwior Fröhlich fell back the ambitious punks into the box, where the central striker Kylian Mbappe never looked after the competition.
In recent years, Madrid has had strikers who were better suited for such an approach. The outstanding borrower Joselu last season was particularly in the air, and Courtois admitted after the game that he couldn’t understand why his teammates were of the opinion that Mbappe could win the air battle.
“We cannot always expect the four to surpass three players in advance and score a great goal,” Courtois started. “As a team, we have to attack and defend better.
“In the end you are a team that defends well, well organized, press well and it is difficult to find space. We have used a lot of crosses, but this year we have no Joselu, a natural striker in advance. We have to carefully analyze what we can do better.
“Sometimes you have to be self -critical and look at everything carefully. Everyone has to do that. I have the feeling that I have a team, but we have to play more team games and not only individually [Copa del Rey] Finale against Barca, La Liga and the World Cup. “
The elimination from the Champions League is increasing to a team in Madrid, whose hopes for winning silverware quickly fade.
Carlo Ancelotti’s team is located in La Liga, four points behind Barcelona, which they will also meet on April 26th in the Copa del Rey final. That could be the manager’s last game, as reports report that it could be replaced soon.