UEFA Champions League: Owen Hargreaves calls on Real Madrid ...

Owen Hargreaves called on Carlo Ancelotti to make tough decisions to turn around Real Madrid’s faltering season after AC Milan won 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Young centre-half Malick Thiaw headed the visitors into an early lead before Vinicius Junior levelled from the penalty spot midway through the first half.

But goals from ex-Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata and midfielder Tijjani Reijnders consigned the Spanish champions to their second defeat in a row after a galling 4-0 hammering to rivals Barcelona.

Asked whether Ancelotti would have headaches from his side’s evident struggles, TNT Sports expert Hargreaves upgraded his worries to “migraines”.

“Definite migraines,” said Hargreaves. “Even for Carlo’s experience, that’s going to be tricky. I think he’s just going to have to tweak it. He’s going to have to drop somebody.

“They’re too open. Milan, Stuttgart, everybody went there and had more of the ball than Real Madrid. The balance is off in Jude [Bellingham’s] position. He’s still trying to find his way in that side.

“There will be a lot of moaning people in that dressing room and upstairs, and that’s never good at a big club like Real Madrid.”

Fellow pundit Rachel Brown-Finnis had faith that Ancelotti had the tools and experience at his disposal to turn around Real Madrid’s season.

“He’s never going to be absolutely crushed by this because he’s spent many years as a manager at the very top. He’s won pretty much everything,” said Brown-Finnis on TNT Sports.

“And if he can’t do it, some would say that no one could do it. And is it his fault? Ultimately, has he brought in those players? No, certainly not all of them.

“It’s a collection of fancy players, of ‘Galacticos’ as it were, that he’s been tasked with seaming together and at the moment it’s not working.

“But he’s got many more playbooks, Ancelotti, for how he can try and make them work.”

Italian football expert James Horncastle was hesitant to label AC Milan’s win as a 'coming-of-age' performance, despite the statistics showing it was an historic night for the club.

The shock victory was Rossoneri's first at the Bernabeu for 15 years, when Ancelotti was overseeing the fading lights of his legendary mid-2000s Milan team.

But despite the stunning result and display, Horncastle was unconvinced that this team of potential superstars is the finished article.

“There’s certainly still a lot of scepticism around AC Milan, even though they beat Inter in the derby. Their form in the Champions League has not been good,” said Horncastle.

“They lost to Liverpool and even their first win against Club Brugges came when Brugges went down to 10 men. They weren’t convincing in that game.

“You always expected Madrid to come back. But the way Milan played as a team tonight, putting an extra man in midfield. [Yunus] Musah particularly did a lot of work off the ball.

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