Carlo Ancelotti always wears his trademark suit and tie and is usually the epitome of calm on the Bernabeu touchline.

But after Raphinha scored the 0-4 final score against Barcelona in the first El Classico of the season, the reserved Italian ran straight to his opponent Hansi Flick and waved his finger in his face.

Afterwards, the coach explained that he was dissatisfied with the fact that the Catalan team's team entered the technical area of ​​​​Real Madrid, where they celebrated the fourth goal.

Ancelotti said his counterpart agreed the “indelicate behavior” was inappropriate but downplayed the collision.

He also tried to downplay the significance of the embarrassing defeat against the European champions' hated rivals.

“We played intensively in the first half. We could have scored, but we lacked a bit of accuracy,” said the Italian after the game.

“When they scored, they scored two goals that took all our energy away. We took more risks at the back and they found a lot more chances on the counterattack.”

“We did very well for 60 minutes, we have to forget the last 30.”

Ancelotti denied the approach was wrong and dismissed comparisons with the embarrassing defeat to Lille in the Champions League.

“I don’t regret my game plan. I've been in football for 48 years so I'm not wrong when I say the first half was good,” he said.

“It’s different to the defeat against Lille. We were very bad that day. We competed today.”

He also highlighted what happened the last time Barcelona humiliated Real on home soil.

“The last time we lost 4-0 to Barcalona, ​​we won La Liga and the Champions League. We keep fighting,” he added.

“We have to learn from this. Self-criticism is fundamental. But we don’t throw everything in the bin.”

However, it is misleading to mention this loss without the context surrounding it.

When Barcelona beat their rivals for the last time in 2022, Real Madrid were 9 points clear at the top of the table, a full dozen ahead of their opponents that evening.

In the context of this season's title race, being left out almost immediately after the final whistle was something of an anomaly.

This season's defeat is far more significant as it comes early in the season and gives Barcelona a 6-point lead at the top of the table.

It also points to the greater fallibility at Real Madrid since Kylian Mbappe's arrival.

The Mbappe factor: No shine so far

Real Madrid's search for Kylian Mbappé took so long that the club was virtually without a striker last season while waiting to sign him.

In the absence of a quality striker, Carlo Ancelotti demonstrated his underrated tactical skills by devising a system in which Jude Bellingham acted as a figurehead, capable of scoring goals and holding up the ball to play alongside Vinicius Junior.

The idea that signing one of the best players in the world would affect the team's performance seemed ridiculous to me. After all, Mbappe literally replaced no one; he filled a gap.

But against teams that look to frustrate, like Lille, and those that try to dominate, like Barca, Madrid prove weak.

Ahead of the game against Barcelona, ​​Ancelotti was forced to dismiss claims that Mbappe's performances were anything but on point.

“We are satisfied,” said Ancelotti.

“(Mbappe) scored goals, he is very important for the team. He strives to be at his best. We're in no hurry, and neither is he. Obviously he will do better because he has all the qualities he needs to be better.”

“He has experience, he has played against Barcelona a lot. He knows what he has to do.”

“His way of preparing for a game is to be very calm and straightforward. He firmly believes in his qualities. We are confident he will bring something to the team (on Saturday) and he is.”

But he didn't, and it wasn't just Mbappe who looked out of sorts against Barcelona; Jude Bellingham continued his trend of being less effective since the Frenchman joined.

His manager denied that the less goal-scoring Bellingham was a cause for concern and that this was more due to a combination of system changes and fitness issues.

“He is doing very well, he is making progress, his condition is very good now, even if he doesn't score goals, his job is very important and he knows it very well,” Ancelotti said.

“Last year we lost an important striker like Karim (Benzema) and replaced him with goals from Jude, Brahim (Diaz) and Joselu. Now we have a striker who can score 35 or 40 goals.”

After this painful loss, the moment of truth comes for this Kylian Mbappe Real Madrid.

Ancelotti must prove that these are teething problems and not an indication that the Frenchman's presence has unbalanced the team, as was so often the case at his previous club, Paris Saint-Germain.