Real Hurting after European Exit but No Issues with Club, Says Ancelotti

Soccer Football - Champions League - Quarter Final - Second Leg - Real Madrid v Arsenal - Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - April 16, 2025 Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti reacts before the match REUTERS/Juan Medina
Soccer Football - Champions League - Quarter Final - Second Leg - Real Madrid v Arsenal - Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - April 16, 2025 Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti reacts before the match REUTERS/Juan Medina
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Real Hurting after European Exit but No Issues with Club, Says Ancelotti

Soccer Football - Champions League - Quarter Final - Second Leg - Real Madrid v Arsenal - Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - April 16, 2025 Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti reacts before the match REUTERS/Juan Medina
Soccer Football - Champions League - Quarter Final - Second Leg - Real Madrid v Arsenal - Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - April 16, 2025 Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti reacts before the match REUTERS/Juan Medina

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said his side were still hurting after the holders were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals but there had been no falling out with the club hierarchy after their European exit.

Arsenal beat the 15-times European champions in both legs to advance to the semi-finals with a 5-1 aggregate victory which leaves Ancelotti's side fighting only on the domestic front.

Real are in the Copa del Rey final where they face Barcelona, who are four points ahead of Ancelotti's side in LaLiga. Real host fourth-placed Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, Reuters reported.

Real president Florentino Perez has been known to be ruthless in sacking coaches who fail but Italian Ancelotti, the only manager to win the Champions League five times, said rumours of any friction with the club were false.

"I have spoken to the players and I have spoken to the club. We are all on the same page. We are all hurt because we exited the competition in which we have been most successful. You can't always win," Ancelotti told reporters.

"We have the same idea, there is no conflict with the club. Whoever says that there is a conflict is false, the president shows more affection in these moments than when we win.

"The Champions League is the most important competition for everyone. And the Champions League is the most important history of Madrid. But it's not true that the rest do not count."

Ancelotti said what hurt most was the stinging criticism that followed their exit but the 65-year-old refused to blame the squad, saying he had a "great relationship" with his players.

"The reality is that in this world everything is questioned," he said. "Questioning a club that has won almost 30 titles in the last decade seems misleading to me.

"The only thing I want to do is thank all these players because I've had a great time so far and I want to continue doing so ... These players have given me the opportunity to win two Champions Leagues in recent years."

Sunday's opponents Athletic, on the other hand, reached the Europa League semi-finals and Ancelotti congratulated them.

"It's going to be an intense match, both teams played during the week," he said. "They're getting closer to reaching the final at San Mames. We want to stay in the fight for LaLiga."



Salah Out of Liverpool Squad for Champions League Game After Rift with Slot

Football - UEFA Champions League - Liverpool Training - AXA Training Center, Liverpool, Britain - December 8, 2025 Liverpool's Mohamed Salah during training. (Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff)
Football - UEFA Champions League - Liverpool Training - AXA Training Center, Liverpool, Britain - December 8, 2025 Liverpool's Mohamed Salah during training. (Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff)
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Salah Out of Liverpool Squad for Champions League Game After Rift with Slot

Football - UEFA Champions League - Liverpool Training - AXA Training Center, Liverpool, Britain - December 8, 2025 Liverpool's Mohamed Salah during training. (Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff)
Football - UEFA Champions League - Liverpool Training - AXA Training Center, Liverpool, Britain - December 8, 2025 Liverpool's Mohamed Salah during training. (Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff)

Mohamed Salah is out of Arne Slot's squad for Liverpool's Champions League game against Inter Milan, following his stinging public criticism of the club.

The Egyptian forward's name was missing from a 19-player squad Monday as the team traveled to Italy. He had earlier seemed in good spirits at training in England.

Salah said it “seems like the club has thrown me under the bus” and he doesn't have “any relationship” with Slot after he was benched for the third game in a row Saturday.

Salah has won two Premier League titles and the Champions League during a trophy-laden eight years at Anfield. He signed a two-year contract extension in April just before he received his second Premier League player of the season award.

Salah is due to go to the Africa Cup of Nations this month with Egypt before the transfer window opens in January.


Real Madrid Defender Éder Militão Set to Be Sidelined for Few Months because of Injury

Real Madrid's Eder Militao is assisted from the pitch after getting an injury during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Celta Vigo in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Real Madrid's Eder Militao is assisted from the pitch after getting an injury during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Celta Vigo in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
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Real Madrid Defender Éder Militão Set to Be Sidelined for Few Months because of Injury

Real Madrid's Eder Militao is assisted from the pitch after getting an injury during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Celta Vigo in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Real Madrid's Eder Militao is assisted from the pitch after getting an injury during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Celta Vigo in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Real Madrid defender Éder Militão is expected to be sidelined for at least three months because of a left leg injury.

The club said Monday that Militão underwent tests and was diagnosed with a rupture of the biceps femoris tendon in his leg. It said his “progress will be monitored.”

Such injuries could require from three to fourth months of recovery, Spanish media said, The AP news reported.

Militão had to leave Madrid's 2-0 loss to Celta Vigo in the Spanish league on Sunday in the first half. He was assisted off the field at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

Militão, a Brazil international, had to deal with serious knee injuries in recent years.

He is the latest setback to affect Xabi Alonso's squad that has been depleted by injuries recently.


Mbappé Faces Haaland in Champions League Appetizer for World Cup. Troubled Liverpool Goes to Inter

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe poses with the trophy after scoring four goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Olympiacos and Real Madrid, in in Piraeus port, near Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe poses with the trophy after scoring four goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Olympiacos and Real Madrid, in in Piraeus port, near Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
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Mbappé Faces Haaland in Champions League Appetizer for World Cup. Troubled Liverpool Goes to Inter

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe poses with the trophy after scoring four goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Olympiacos and Real Madrid, in in Piraeus port, near Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe poses with the trophy after scoring four goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Olympiacos and Real Madrid, in in Piraeus port, near Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A Champions League clash between Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland will surely happen in the final one day.

On Wednesday, it is a routine league-phase game when Real Madrid hosts Manchester City and the most feared forwards in soccer cross paths for the third time in the competition since Haaland debuted in 2019.

Also this week, Liverpool brings its season of turmoil to San Siro against Inter Milan on Tuesday, when Bayern Munich hosts Sporting Lisbon. Paris Saint-Germain is at Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday, The AP news reported.

In the sixth of the eight rounds, league-leading Arsenal can become the first team to reach the 16-point total that last season ensured advancing direct to the round of 16, The AP news reported.

Arsenal is the only team with five straight wins on 15 points and needs to avoid defeat Tuesday at Club Brugge to reach the potential cutoff between eighth and ninth place in January.

Mbappé vs. Haaland Tuesday at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium likely won’t be the last time they meet this season.

France will play Norway on June 26 at the New England Patriots’ stadium in Foxborough, Mass., in one of the most anticipated games from the World Cup draw made Friday.

There might also be more in the Champions League given that Real Madrid and Manchester City met in the knockout rounds in each of the past four seasons. They combined to win three titles in that time though Mbappé still seeks his first.

Mbappé vs. Haaland first happened in the round of 16 in February 2020. Newly arrived at Borussia Dortmund, Haaland scored two in the first leg against Paris Saint-Germain and revealed his “Zen” goal celebration, sitting down cross-legged as if meditating. Mbappé and PSG won in Paris to advance 3-2 on aggregate score.

Last season, in the knockout playoffs in February, Mbappé scored four times including a hat trick in the second leg as Madrid beat Man City in both games, despite Haaland’s two goals in the first leg.

Mbappé’s four goals at Olympiakos last month lifted him to be top scorer in the Champions League this season. He needs one more to reach 10 in a Champions League season for the first time during his decade in the competition.

Haaland has five so far, and already got into double figures in three Champions League campaigns.

Madrid starts the week in fifth place on 12 points, two ahead of City in ninth in the 36-team standings.

Equally prolific Kane Harry Kane is just as prolific for Bayern Munich this season. He has scored 28 in just 22 games for Bayern plus five in five World Cup qualifiers for England.

Kane has kept pace with Haaland’s goal-a-game ratio in the Champions League and kept Bayern third in the standings, despite losing at Arsenal two weeks ago.

Ahead of Kane and Haaland is six-goal Victor Osimhen, who is fit to return with Galatasaray at Monaco on Tuesday. Both teams are in contention for a top-24 finish and places in the knockout stage starting in February.

Frankfurt fans return Barcelona hosting Eintracht Frankfurt is a repeat of a remarkable show of force by visiting fans four seasons ago — and one the Spanish club has now worked to avoid.

Eintracht’s road to winning the Europa League in 2022 included what looked and sounded like a home game to win 3-2 at Camp Nou in the second leg of the quarterfinals.

About 30,000 German fans were there after most bought tickets from Barcelona fans, who last week were warned by their club not to do that again.

“If the traceability of ticket purchases and their final destination reveals fraudulent behavior, the case will be referred to the disciplinary committee,” Barcelona said last week in a statement.

Barcelona is certainly favored to win this time. The La Liga leader scored five in winning at the weekend while Eintracht was routed 6-0 at Leipzig.

Winter is coming It will be an unusually early Champions League kickoff at 4:30 p.m. Central Europe Time when Kairat Almaty hosts Olympiakos on Tuesday. That is 8:30 p.m. in eastern Kazakhstan where evening temperatures can plummet in December.

UEFA planned well to schedule the game Tuesday instead of Wednesday. Forecast temperature at kickoff is about 0 Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) while it should be -12 C (10 F) at the same time one day later.

Bodo/Glimt’s European season continues at Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday after its domestic season finished in Norway being edged for the title by Viking. The Norwegian league avoids the bitter winter and Glimt has two more Champions League games in January, and maybe more in the knockout phase, during the Norwegian offseason.