“It’s all my fault” – Carlo Ancelotti makes huge admission as Real Madrid suffer 3-1 defeat to Atletico 

Carlo Ancelotti took the blame for Real Madrid's poor display in their 3-1 La Liga loss at Atletico Madrid on Sunday (September 24).

Three crosses from Atletico's left flank resulted in as many headed goals for Diego Simeone's side. Alvaro Morata scored early in both halves, with Antoine Griezmann's 17th-minute strike was sandwiched between the Spanish striker's brace.

Toni Kroos made it 2-1 before half-time to give his team hope, but it only proved to be a consolation goal. The visitors kept 64% of the ball at the Wanda Metropolitano and took double the shots (20 as compared to 10). Atletico, though, led in the only statistic that mattered most.

Real Madrid, at times, looked bereft of ideas and resorted to taking shots from outside the box. At the other end, Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba were constantly troubled by Atletico's crosses.

All three of the hosts' goals were uncontested headers. Ancelotti took the blame for Madrid's first defeat of the season (h/t @MadridXtra):

"It's all my fault."

He added:

"I won't change the system. This game will help us to fix some things."

Ancelotti has stayed true to his 4-1-2-1-2 system this season, which consists of a diamond in midfield and a two-man strike partnership. Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes have been the Italian manager's go-to options up top after Karim Benzema's exit.

However, Jude Bellingham was deployed alongside Rodrygo in attack against Los Colchoneros due to Vinicius' thigh injury. The loss at the Wanda Metropolitano leaves Madrid one point behind leaders Barcelona (16) in the league table after six games.

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Carlo Ancelotti explains reason for Aurelien Tchouameni's exclusion from Real Madrid's XI against Atletico Madrid

Carlo Ancelotti picked a midfield four of Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos against Atletico Madrid.

Jude Bellingham played up top, while Aurelien Tchouameni was relegated to the bench. Before the derby, the Frenchman played 450 minutes in their first six games across competitions this season.

Explaining his decision to snub Tchouameni in favor of playing Modric (38) and Kroos (33), Ancelotti said (via the aforementioned source):

"Kroos and Modric? I wanted to keep the ball. And Tchouameni needed to rest after playing a lot of minutes."

The former AS Monaco midfielder, a tireless runner in midfield, was brought on in the 57th minute when Real Madrid trailed 3-1. He got the away fans on the edge of their seats with two well-struck long-range shots that missed the goal by a few inches.