The Italian addressed the renewals of Kroos and the Frenchman and insisted that “the legends of Real Madrid have to stay”
MADRID, 14 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Real Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti, stated on Tuesday that saying that the club “needs a ‘nine’ is an opinion”, because although Karim Benzema is not “a child” he will be “next season”, at the same time that he ironized about Vinicius’ absence due to an “error” in the list of the best players of the last season prepared by FIFPRO.
“Well what I need a ‘nine’ is an opinion. We have Karim, he’s not a child, but we have a ‘nine’ for next year. And like him, we have others. This is not the time to talk about next season, now this season is alive, the Champions League begins, and we are focused on that. I don’t know if he has renewed or not, but I already said that I think that the legends of this club have to stay at Real Madrid”, said the technician at a press conference, before the duel against Elche this Wednesday (9:00 p.m.).
In addition, he advanced that the German Toni Kroos has not told him if he will renew with Real Madrid, although he did confess that his “feeling” is that he will expand his relationship with the white entity, which ends at the end of this course.
Asked about the absence of Vinicius in the list to form the best FIFPRO world eleven for men, Ancelotti stated that he did not know said list. “It seems strange to me that Vinicius is not there, it was a mistake, the list has not gone well,” he joked about a player who is within the group of cariocas -along with Militao and Rodrygo- of the club, who “joke” about the possibility that the coach is the future coach of the ‘Canarinha’.
“They don’t ask me about it, they laugh at it, but we don’t talk about it. We are friends, they are jokes, but the reality is that I have a contract until 2024,” he reiterated.
Before facing Elche this Wednesday, in a duel corresponding to matchday 21 of LaLiga Santander, Ancelotti advanced that the team is “with good feelings” and “delighted” to return before their fans to “enjoy the Club World Cup title “Harvested this Saturday in Rabat (Morocco).
For this match, Courtois is ruled out and could return on Saturday against Osasuna, while Militao and Lucas Vázquez will return, according to the coach, who also reported Kroos’ loss against the Elche. A suspended Vinicius will not jump onto the pitch either, without a ‘replacement’ in the team. “Nobody can play Vinicius. Rodrygo will play in his position,” said Ancelotti.
“We have a disadvantage in the League, but that does not prevent us from fighting every game as if it were the last,” he said, before confessing that he does not believe that the Madrid fans think that the team is in a “critical situation.” “I don’t have to give arguments, the fans know very well what the team can do. We are going to fight every game, every minute, in all competitions. They know very well the professionalism and seriousness of these players,” he said. .
The coach analyzed that the difference with FC Barcelona in the League is its defensive “solidity”, the “key to its success”. “We’re doing very well in attack, but we have to improve at the back. We need to work, we’ve had three clean sheets, but we’ve made quite banal mistakes. I’m confident, because the defensive aspect is just a problem of concentration, organization and collective commitment , which we don’t always have”, he pointed out.
Ancelotti, responding to the words of the Manchester City coach, Pep Guardiola, who stated that they are no longer “the same after having won so much”, stressed that “winning helps to win”, as the “history” of the white entity says . “When you win you feel things that you want to repeat, that’s why what happened last year is a great motivation to repeat it. So that others don’t feel what we felt in the celebrations, the parties either,” he recalled.
Regarding proper names, Ancelotti repeated that using Eduardo Camavinga as a left back responds to an “emergency” situation, although his position, as a “very strong midfielder”, is that of a “pivot”. A task that he shares with an Aurelien Tchouameni whose performance was affected by the World Cup. “Until the World Cup, he did very well, he was surprising. He’s still not in optimal condition. Playing alone or with a double pivot doesn’t change his quality, he’ll come back soon, little by little,” he said.
“Nacho has more competition as a centre-back, but he has always complied. It is NOT about where one prefers to play, but to contribute when he plays. And Nacho has always contributed. His situation with the club is quite clear, he has to decide what do”, he concluded about the Spanish central defender.