His long and successful career on the bench has led Ancelotti to be able to express himself in English, French, Spanish and German, in addition to his mother’s Italian. And that experience also translates into the field. Carletto has created a multilingual Madrid, capable of expressing itself on the pitch in several languages. The white team dominates the scene when they ‘listen’ to the rival and wait for their opportunity to speak up and go on the counterattack. And he expresses himself fluently and forcefully in the situations in which he takes the initiative of the speech. The Super Cup has been a synthesis of this duality: from the accurate counterattack in the semi-final against Barcelona to the efficiency with possession in the final against Athletic.
The first title of the season has been dominated by the debate about Madrid’s style. Ancelotti has expressed himself without complexes throughout the season about his team’s approach to play. The Italian coach has recognized how comfortable his players feel waiting behind to be able to attack spaces with the speed of players like Vinicius. A plan that he has not always been able to put into practice against teams that have ceded the initiative to Madrid, but that he was able to apply (and had an effect) against Barcelona.
Ancelotti has found himself in a situation of explaining how he sets up matches to almost having to justify himself. “The strength of a team is not having a single identity. In football there are many things: possession, counterattack, defense, pressure, up front, pressure behind, set pieces, which is a very important aspect… Fortunately I have had the experience of training in many countries. I have understood that in football there is not only one thing that you have to do well. You have to be smart to do a lot of things. Not having a single identity is a team skill, not a weakness“, he argued before the microphones of Real Madrid TV between game and game.
Construction of Real Madrid’s 3-2 goal in the Super Cup semifinal against Barcelona.
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Madrid killed the semifinal against Barcelona with a book against culminated by Valverde. He closed the Clásico with 46.8% possession, his lowest figure of the season. In the first part of the final against Athletic, the white team recovered the line that they have this season, with 60.2% (those of Carletto average 59.63% possession). “Too much possession today…” Ancelotti joked after the match. Y the first goal came in a play built from behind as a lightning attack to overcome Athletic’s high pressure. The ball passed through the feet of the three midfielders in the machine room. That Holy Trinity formed by Casemiro, Kroos and Modric and who added a new title to their record. From the Croatian, the ball reached the boots of Rodrygo, who gave the final pass so that Modric himself, with his first goal of the season, opened the scoring.
The construction of Real Madrid’s first goal against Athletic in the Super Cup final.
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The construction of the play that ended with Benzema’s shot that produced the penalty with which the French striker scored the final 0-2 for Real Madrid.
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The origin of the penalty that Benzema converted is a touch play, stitched together over 18 passes and 38 touches of the ball in 51 seconds. Vinicius (the only player along with Courtois who didn’t touch the ball on the play) upset Nico Willliams to make it easier for Casemiro to recover. The ball successively passed through the boots of Mendy, Kroos, Casemiro, Lucas Vázquez, Rodrygo, again the Galician, Militao, Alaba, Mendy, Casemiro, Mendy for the third time, Militao, Rodrygo, Lucas, Benzema, Kroos, Lucas for the fourth time time and finally Karim, whose shot with the right and the first time was intercepted with the hand by Yeray. Three ways to understand football. Three paths to goal. Three goals that give a title.