Bless Carlo Ancelotti, father, for he has sinned. He admitted so at the press conference prior to Tuesday's Champions League match between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund at the Bernabéu.
Speaking to the media, the Italian coach admitted to five deadly sins that have plagued his team this season.
He's put special emphasis on what he asks of Mbappé. Unlike Luis Enrique at PSG, he doesn't ask him to press. Nor does he ask so of Vinícius.
And without Toni Kroos at the back, the team struggles when it comes to fighting for possession in midfield and the back.
1.- "We are not at 100%"
"We are not at 100%, I think we have achieved good results, but we have to improve our play level. Little by little we will make it happen."
2.- "The team is not in good physical condition"
"It's also a matter of physical condition: not everyone is at 100% yet and that's about it. We have to work a little more compactly as a team. Sometimes we also have the idea of pressing up front. However, due to automatisms we still lack a bit of solidity when we have the middle block."
3.- Vulnerable defense
"We're not conceding many goals, that's true, but our opponents have opportunities to score."
4.- "I don't ask Mbappé to press"
Asked about Luis Enrique's words demanding Mbappé to press at PSG, Ancelotti replied:
"I ask him to score goals. I prefer him to score goals than to press. I'm asking the same thing I asked Benzema: to position himself well to be smart and make a quick transition once we recover the ball."
5.- Difficulties in possession-and-control games
"We have more difficulty in a possession-and-control game because we don't have players with the ability to play in small spaces.
The two-leg match suits us well but we are focused on defending better, as we did last year; focused on giving the team more solidity.
"We are focused on defending better, as we did last year. Now we are less solid."