Real Madrid get sharp wake-up call over their reliance on fine margins | Sid Lowe

At the end of Real Madrid’s 4-4 draw with Real Sociedad last week, Carlo Ancelotti was asked whether there had been any point at which he feared for their place in the Copa del Rey final. He had watched his team go 1-0, 3-1 and 4-3 down, the game heading into extra time before Antonio Rüdiger’s goal after midnight finally gave them a 4-4 draw, allowing them to scrape through 5-4 on aggregate. But still he said no.“Because,” he reasoned, “anything can happen here.” And that, you couldn’t help wondering, may be precisely the problem. One day, anything would not happen, and then what?Valencia end years of misery at Real Madrid to extend Corberán’s revival | Sid LoweRead moreThe pity for Arsenal may be that Madrid found that out three days later, tangible warning arriving in time for their visit to London. It’s one thing to say it, another to actually experience it, to be faced with your own flaws, your own vulnerabilities when you felt invincible.No one has made the ridiculous as routine...