Butragueno refuses to comment on Ancelotti's Real future

The future of Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti is uncertain after his side lost out to Barcelona in the race for La Liga title glory, with club director Emilio Butragueno refusing to comment on his position.

Real hammered Espanyol 4-1 on Sunday thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick, but Barcelona's 1-0 win at Atletico Madrid put the title out of reach for Ancelotti's men with one game left.

Missing out on La Liga compounded a miserable week for Ancelotti, whose side drew 2-2 with Valencia before being dumped out of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals by Juventus.

After the win at Espanyol, Butragueno refused to confirm whether Ancelotti's position was secure, saying: "Now is not the time or the place to say. This was one game, and from there we'll see."

He added: "Congratulations to Barcelona. We achieved our aim of getting a result [on Sunday] - that was our obligation.

"We compete to win and when we don't, we are not happy. This week we deserved to beat Valencia and Juventus, but had no luck. We made a great effort but couldn't achieve our objectives."