Ancelotti baffled at Real Madrid’s poor form

Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has admitted he is at a loss explaining the European champions’ dramatic slump in form as they sneak into the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League despite losing 3-4 to Schalke last Tuesday.

A 2-0 first leg advantage was just enough to carry Los Blancos into the last eight for a fifth consecutive season on a night when Cristiano Ronaldo's achievement in becoming the all-time leading scorer in European competitions was overshadowed.

Ronaldo twice equalised in the first half to surpass Real legend Raul with 78 goals in European competitions after Christian Fuchs and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar had given Schalke the lead.

Karim Benzema then put Madrid in front on the night before Leroy Sane and a stunning strike from Huntelaar gave Schalke a deserved victory. 

Ancelotti's men swept all before them in a 22-game winning run to end 2014 with a club record four-trophy haul for the calendar year after winning the FIFA Club World Cup.

However, since the turn of the year they have lost five times in 15 games to surrender their La Liga lead to Barcelona and were on the verge of suffering one of the biggest shocks in Champions League history. "We are playing very badly. It is quite incomprehensible after what we did until December," said Ancelotti.

"It is clear I feel very sorry because everyone has seen we played very badly. This is not good for the image of the club. It is normal that the players lack confidence. I think we have dipped a bit physically too. We had problems in every aspect of the game: offensive, defensive, desire, fight and concentration." --PA