Carlo Ancelotti has said Real Madrid have learnt their lessons from their 4-0 Clásico defeat to Barcelona in October, as the two teams prepare to meet in the Spanish Supercopa final in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday (watch LIVE on ESPN+).
Madrid's form has improved since the heavy loss at the Bernabéu, while Barça have suffered a slump, with four defeats and two draws in their last eleven games.
In the LaLiga clash on Oct. 26, Madrid struggled to cope with Barça's offside trap and high defensive line, with forward Kylian Mbappé being caught offside a career-high eight times, as Barça scored four second-half goals.
"We have to think about what happened in that first game," Ancelotti said in his pre-match news conference at the Al Jawhara Stadium on Saturday. "They beat us. We've evaluated it. We started the game well, and then we had problems in the second half.
"We'll try to repeat the good things we did, and avoid the mistakes we made in the second half. A Clásico is always a Clásico and there's even more pressure when it's a final ... We've looked at [the offside trap], we have to assess it and counteract it."
Jude Bellingham ended Madrid's 3-0 semifinal win over Mallorca on Thursday with a minor muscular strain, but Ancelotti said the star midfielder will be available for the final.
"Yes, he's fine, he's recovered well," Ancelotti said. "He had a some discomfort, it's normal, it usually happens. He's very important, he's in very good form. He's a player who, in this period, has made the difference."
Ancelotti said that he wouldn't be angry if Barça's Dani Olmo is influential in the final, after the saga which saw the playmaker de-registered by LaLiga and the RFEF.
Olmo, who was de-registered alongside teammate Pau Víctor due to Barça's financial difficulties, has been temporarily reinstated pending a decision by Spain's sports ministry.
"He's a great player," Ancelotti said. "If Dani Olmo plays, we have to think about dealing with the quality he has."
Speaking in his news conference later, Barça coach Hansi Flick confirmed that Olmo was prepared to feature, both mentally and physically.
"Yes, of course, he can play," Flick said. "It's not a problem. He's very happy that he has the opportunity to play, and he could be back in the team."
Flick was reluctant to discuss reports that defender Ronald Araújo could leave Barça in January -- saying "I want him in my team" -- and wouldn't confirm whether Iñaki Peña or Wojciech Szczęsny would start in goal, after Peña was omitted for the semifinal against Athletic Club after arriving late for a team meeting.
"I never speak normally about the starting eleven," Flick said. "You all can see that Szczesny had a good match [in the semifinal], and Iñaki had a fantastic first half of the season ... I tried to explain it to you, because the noise outside [the club] is very loud.
"We only have one thing that coaches want on matchday, that everybody is on time. They're professional players. They have two or three [appointments] on the day, and they have to be right on time. It's the third time it's happened, and I had no choice. The player knows this."
In the 2024 Supercopa final, Madrid beat Barça 4-1, with Vinícius Júnior scoring a hat trick.
"Quality prevails, compared to the balance of the team," Ancelotti said, when asked why there'd been such diverse Clásico results lately. "Individual moments, over the collective. That's the reason I think. There's so much individual quality that it overcomes the collective, which is above all in defence."