Real Madrid were beaten 2-1 by Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Sunday night.
The Los Blancos opened the scoring early in the first half, but conceded a late goal in the first half.
Carlo Ancelotti’s men chased a winner in the second period, but it didn’t seem forthcoming.
The Real Madrid boss utilised all five substitutions, as he brought on Ferland Mendy and Rodrygo after the hour mark for Nacho Fernandez and Toni Kroos.
Ancelotti made a triple change with 15 minutes left, as he brought on Aurelien Tchouameni, Marco Asensio and Dani Ceballos in place of Luka Modric, Federico Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga.
Asensio scored a late goal, which was ruled out for offside by VAR, before Franck Kessie scored a stoppage time goal to seal the three points for Barcelona.
Speaking about his subs, Ancelotti said: “The substitutions didn’t change our system. I changed Nacho because he was on a card and I put Rodrygo on to have a bit more technical ability up top.
“Then I made another three to bring fresh energy to the team. The changes gave us a lift. After a good first half I thought it seemed silly to change things. Making five changes in the 60th minute is a bit odd.”
Ancelotti was asked if the defeat created doubts in his team.
He responded: “After the Super Cup, we had our doubts, but not today. We played very well.
“They had control and so did we. It was evenly matched. These games are won and lost by small details.”
