REAL MADRID LOSE 3-1 TO AC MILAN @ HOME FOR BACK TO BACK DEFEAT ON HOME SOIL

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti says his side “have to be worried” following defeat to AC Milan at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Madrid have fallen to back-to-back home defeats and have lost two of their first four games in the Champions League.

Vinicius Junior’s penalty equalised for Madrid after Malick Thiaw’s opener, but strikes from Alvaro Morata and Tijjani Reijnders secured a deserved victory for Milan.

Madrid have now lost their last two games after being beaten by rivals Barcelona 4-0 in El Clasico, who they now trail by nine points in La Liga.

And Ancelotti’s reigning European champions have only six points from four games in the Champions League, following a defeat away to Lille in October.

“We have to be worried, the team’s not giving a good account of itself,” said Ancelotti.

“We have to be more compact, more organised, we’ve let in a lot of goals. We’re not well organised on the pitch and we have to work on that.”

Milan have also had a mixed start to the season – they only had one win from their first three Champions League games and are seventh in Serie A, eight points behind leaders Napoli.

But an impressive display in Madrid was praised by their manager Paulo Fonseca.

“The players came here with courage, they didn’t have any fear. In the first half we created plenty and in the second half we were on the back foot, but we fought together,” said the Portuguese coach.

“We definitely deserved to win.”

Vinicius Junior

Vinicius Junior scored in his first game since he and Real Madrid boycotted the Ballon d’Or ceremony

Milan led from a corner after 12 minutes, centre-back Thiaw heading home Christian Pulisic’s near-post delivery for his first goal in red and black.

Madrid equalised nine minutes later through Vinicius, in his first game since he and the club boycotted the Ballon d’Or ceremony, claiming they were “not respected”.

After the Brazilian winger was tripped in the box by Emerson Royal, Vinicius chipped keeper Mike Maignan from the spot before kissing the Real Madrid badge in celebration in front of ecstatic support.

But in an end-to-end encounter, Madrid lost the ball in midfield six minutes before half-time and failed to respond when Rafael Leao’s low shot on the turn was palmed out by Andriy Lunin. Former Real and Atletico Madrid striker Morata finished high into the roof of the net.

It was a hugely frustrating evening at times for Madrid fans, who saw Kylian Mbappe – who now has just one goal in six games – continue to struggle in front of goal.

The 25-year-old’s favoured position is on the left wing but Ancelotti has kept Vinicius in that position, forcing Mbappe to play centrally.

Malick Thiaw celebrates scoring the first AC Milan goal

Malick Thiaw scored his first AC Milan goal to put the Italians into a surprise lead

Kesh Awefada

Kesh Awefada

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