Carlo Ancelotti offered an unsparing assessment after his Real Madrid side went down to a 1-0 UEFA Champions League defeat at Lille.
Jonathan David's penalty in first-half stoppage time proved to be the difference at a raucous State Pierre-Mauroy.
Kylian Mbappe, still nursing a thigh injury, was sent on as a second-half substitute but could not spark a turnaround. Indeed, aside from the inevitable late rally where Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier denied Jude Bellingham, Antonio Rudiger and Arda Guler, there was little to recommend about the Madrid performance.
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"The opponent played better and deserved to win," Ancelotti said at a post-match news conference. "It was difficult for us to get into the match at the level of intensity and duels. We could have drawn, but it was not deserved. We have to learn from what happened. It is clear what we have to improve."
Ancelotti particularly questioned the attitude of his reigning champions during the first half.
"Everything went quite badly and it was difficult to recover the ball. We struggled to generate and create. Possession was slow and there were few ideas," he added.
"The sadness comes from the team's feeling. Games can be lost, but we have not given a good feeling. This is what worries me most, but we have the resources to learn. We have to fix things quickly because we have another game on Saturday."
Madrid host Villarreal in LaLiga this weekend and are three points behind Barcelona at the top of the table.
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