As the most successful club in the history of the competition and with a manager that's the most successful in the competition as well, I'm still very hopeful that Real Madrid will survive the group stages of the UEFA Champions League
Actually, this new format made me a little confused at first, the draw against the team is quite advantageous because there will be many teams that have the opportunity to enter the knockout phase. It seems that the luck of the draw also affects each team.
Real Madrid is an experienced team, I think the chances of qualifying are still very big. But their steps seem to be longer, maybe because they will go through the Play Off. With the new format and the number of injuries, it makes it even more difficult for them to get maximum points. But if they fail it will be a bad record for Real Madrid.
Don't you think Real Madrid have all it takes to avoid participating in the playoffs before reaching the knockout stages of the competition? As the most experienced team in the competition, I still have a strong feeling that Real Madrid will reach the knockout stages directly from the group stages and that I think will be possible if they can win at least three of their remaining four games in the UEFA Champions League this season.
IMO, I would think more realistically as @Luzin said.
If Madrid will end up in the play-off round, it is already the coach's plan to give the weaker team a chance to compete strongly and lose energy and run out of ways or strategies. While Ancelotti will be more relaxed in the play-off round to slowly catch up with other teams.
Indeed, the journey becomes longer but I believe what Ancelotti planned is the best way.
And I also agree with @Docnaster if Madrid has the opportunity to get a few more points from the remaining matches. But the problem is that in the remaining matches Madrid has a schedule of 3 away matches and 1 home match. So there are still some surprises that we cannot predict the results.