It was a very poor evening for Real Madrid away at the Estadio Municipal de Montilivi on Tuesday evening.

Ancelotti’s men lost the tie 4-2, and it was mostly due to shambolic defending.

Explaining the team’s poor showing away to Girona, Carlo Ancelotti heaped blame on the team’s defending.

He said: “We had a bad game in defence and this was the reason behind the result. We did well on the ball, especially at the start, but we were not effortful in our duels, they caught us on two counters and from there, everything became difficult.

“I reiterate the importance of defensive effort: if we have it, we will always win, and if we don’t have it, it will cost us. This is the key to our game.

“In the last seven games, we kept six clean sheets. And today we conceded four. I hope my players understood the message. If not, I will repeat it to them every day.”