Graham Ruthven: Is this finally the end of the Carlo Ancelotti era for Real Madrid?

REAL Madrid’s aura is well-earned. The Spanish giants have repeatedly salvaged the unsalvageable on their way to Champions League glory season after season. With Carlo Ancelotti’s team 3-0 down to Arsenal after last week’s Champions League quarter-final first leg, though, aura might be all Real Madrid have left.

This is a bad Real Madrid team, certainly by their usual standards. Just days before losing 3-0 in North London, Los Blancos suffered a shock home defeat to Valencia. Sunday’s 1-0 win over Alaves was their first clean sheet in 10 matches, and even this was a struggle after Kylian Mbappe’s red card.

Ancelotti is struggling to find solutions for problems all over the pitch. Real Madrid failed to replace Toni Kroos last summer, leaving Ancelotti without a pace-setter in central midfield. Dani Ceballos filled in for a stretch of matches only for the former Arsenal midfielder to suffer a serious injury. He’s only just returning to fitness now.

Injuries haven’t been kind to Real Madrid in a defensive sense either. Dani Carvajal has missed the majority of the season with Eder Militao another long-term absentee. Ferland Mendy will be sidelined for Wednesday’s second leg against Arsenal while David Alaba isn’t long back from a 13-month absence.

Many expected Real Madrid to make a move for at least one new defender in January. Instead, they stuck with what they already had. This lack of squad depth has stretched other areas of the team with Ancelotti forced to pull Airline Tchouameni and Fede Valverde out of his midfield to fill in at the back.

Perhaps even more concerning for Real Madrid is the recent form of Vinicius Junior. Last season, the Brazilian drove the Spanish giants to Champions League glory, scoring in the 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in the final. This season, though, Vinicius has struggled to reach the same heights.

Fitting Mbappe and Vinicius into the same forward line was always likely to be a challenge. Both players want to occupy the same spaces on the left wing and Mbappe’s form since joining from Paris Saint-Germain last summer means he is now at the top of the pecking order. Vinicius is having to find space around Mbappe, not the other way around.

Increasingly, there is a sense that the Ancelotti era at the Santiago Bernabeu is coming to an end. Recent reports claim Real Madrid have already held talks with Xabi Alonso about the possibility of taking over this summer with Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola another named linked with the Spanish club.

While Ancelotti has achieved glittering success over two spells as Real Madrid boss, he has fallen behind the curve in a coaching sense. Real Madrid don’t have much of an identity as a team. They never have. To get the best out of the squad they have assembled, the club might have to hire a manager with more to offer as a tactician.

“I want to see a Real Madrid that’s capable of recovering its sensations, that’s positive,” said Ancelotti ahead of Wednesday’s second leg against Arsenal. “We’ll try [to come back]. Real Madrid is the only team that’s had this happen to it so many times, but we’ll try again. We know when our fans can help us at our stadium – we’ve done it many times.”

Even if Real Madrid pull off the impossible once again and fight back against Arsenal on Wednesday to make the Champions League’s final four, the club is facing a crossroads. Ancelotti is a legend, but now might be the right time for a parting of ways. The most famous raised eyebrow in football could be on its way out.

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