Real Madrid suffered a shock Champions League defeat against Lille on Wednesday night, and Carlo Ancelotti has identified one player as his side’s weakest link.

Los Blancos were beaten 1-0 away to Lille following a 48th-minute penalty from Jonathan David.

It was not his side’s best night at the office, and Ancelotti was understandably unhappy with Madrid’s lacklustre performance.

“Lille were better and deserved to win. We were bad and slow tonight,” the Italian told reporters after the game, as quoted by Fabrizio Romano.

“We didn’t create, the possession was slow, no ideas. We were bad under every aspect.”

Although the entire squad must stand up and take responsibility for what was an out-of-character display, one player’s abysmal showing stood out more than others.

The 29-year-old experienced such a troublesome first half that Ancelotti hauled him off at halftime for Fran Garcia.

And according to Defensa Central, the Real Madrid boss is tired of the Frenchman’s performances and would prefer he is moved on.

Alphonso Davies on list of replacements
Mendy recently penned a deal until 2027 so is under no pressure to leave the Spanish capital.

However, with Ancelotti pushing Florentino Perez to sign Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies it seems Mendy’s days, certainly as a regular starter, are numbered.

Since the start of the season, Mendy, despite starting in all six of Madrid’s La Liga games so far, has failed to register a single goal or assist.

Davies, on the other hand, continues to impress in Germany. The 23-year-old will be out of contract at the Allianz at the end of the season, and showing no signs of committing to a new deal, looks to be heading to Madrid to link up with the likes of Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe.

Lionel Messi scored twice and Drake Callender made a late penalty-kick save as Inter Miami held on for a 3-2 victory over the host Columbus Crew to clinch the Supporters’ Shield in a battle of heavyweights on Wednesday.

The Supporters’ Shield is a major trophy in Major League Soccer (MLS).

In the US, football is always carried out a little differently. The league champion is not decided simply by points at the end of the season. There are the MLS Cup Playoffs, where the top nine teams of the Eastern And Western Conferences play in an elimination tournament to reach the MLS Cup, the annual championship game or final.

The Supporters’ Shield is awarded for the team with the most points in either conference in the regular season.

Under Messi’s influence, supported by Uruguay international Luis Suarez, Miami have gone from finishing 27th in the Supporters’ Shield in 2023 to first in 2024.

Messi stunned the sell-out crowd with goals in the 45th minute and fifth minute of first-half stoppage time to give Miami what seemed like a comfortable lead.

But the Crew got a goal from Diego Rossi in the 46th minute before a defensive blunder gifted Miami’s Luis Suarez his 18th goal to make it 3-1 in the matchup of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

Cucho Hernandez converted a penalty in the 61st to cut the deficit to 3-2 but just two minutes later, Crew defender Rudy Camacho was sent off after his second yellow.

With the win, Miami remain on track to set the MLS record for points in a season set by the New England Revolution in 2021 with 73, if they beat Toronto FC and New England in their last two matches.

Messi, playing against Columbus for the first time, broke the scoreless deadlock with a chip of Patrick Schulte and doubled the score with a 24-yard free-kick for his 17th goal in 17 MLS matches.

The Crew responded just after the break when Rossi deftly sliced a left-foot shot to the far corner for his 12th goal but soon after Schulte and Camacho collided and Suarez easily scored.

Hernandez scored his 17th goal after a handball on Noah Allen.

Harry Kane has received an awful rating from German publication Bild following his “invisible” performance for Bayern Munich against Aston Villa.

The England international striker was back in his homeland for an eagerly-anticipated Champions League clash at Villa Park. Questions had been asked of his fitness heading into that game, with the 31-year-old frontman nursing an ankle complaint.

Kane played the full 90 minutes against Villa, but cut a frustrated figure for long periods as he was limited to rare sights of goal. He did squander one decent opportunity to cancel out Jhon Duran’s spectacular goal for Villa in the closing stages, while the odd final ball was not moved in his direction when it should have been.

Bild pulled no punches in their assessment of Kane at the end of a shock 1-0 defeat for Vincent Kompany’s side, saying of the Three Lions’ captain: “Had ankle problems after the Leverkusen clash, but was fit in time. The England star was hardly seen and missed a great header chance to equalise shortly before the end.” They went on to say, with Kane having already faced criticism in Germany for supposedly going missing in big matches: “When he returned home, the captain of the English national team remained invisible. Just as he did against Leverkusen. [He] only managed his only shot on goal seconds before the final whistle.”

Kane was given a rating of five out of six – with six being the worst and one the best. He was not the only Bayern player to plumb those depths, with Canada international full-back Alphonso Davies considered to have made “far too many mistakes” while French winger Kingsley Coman also failed to impress.