“The reality is what was seen on the pitch,” Carlo Ancelotti said, and what was seen on the pitch wasn’t good. In fact, it was awful. So bad that even fans of the club who have made miracles their thing, late European comebacks just what they do, left early, whistling as they went. The only surprise was that they didn’t whip out the white hankies. Real Madrid were 3-1 down to Milan, who had won only once away from San Siro all season, and defeat was as inevitable as it was deserved. Repeated too: in 11 days here Ancelotti’s team had lost as many times as in the whole of last season anywhere.
First Barcelona came to the Santiago Bernabéu and scored four, now Milan had got three. Madrid hadn’t conceded so many back-to-back at home for 15 years – and the shock was that it had happened so recently. Nor was it just that they had been beaten, it was how they had been beaten: there was an indolence that irritated supporters, a weakness, disorientation and individualism that made Milan’s job unexpectedly, almost shockingly, easy. Madrid hadn’t shown up, a bit like for the Ballon d’Or. You might be tempted to call it a system failure, only there was no sign of a system, and after the rare luxury of 10 days to prepare.
