REAL MADRID
Ancelotti surprises players with futuristic training session
The players trained in Thursday's session wearing hypoxia masks. It was clear from their faces that they were not at all used to them.
Carlo Ancelotti is back in charge of Real Madrid.
The Italian's project 2.0 kicked off at Valdebebas. From 8:30 in the morning, the players will begin to appear at the training facilities for the traditional summer check-ups and weigh-ins. Ancelotti will only be able to callupon on 13 of the 29 players in the squad.
Eight (Alaba, Bale, Modric, Benzema, Varane, Kroos, Courtois and Hazard) went to the European Championship, four to the Copa America (Valverde, Vinicius, Militao and Casemiro) and another four will be at the Tokyo Olympics (Kubo, Ceballos, Asensio and Vallejo).
It is already confirmed that Ancelotti has his son Davide as assistant coach, and the club have not yet found a third in-house coach, as was the coach's wish (he had Zidane and Hierro in his first spell). Raúl prefers to remain at Castilla and Arbeloa must wait for his UEFA Pro licence.
There will be a familiar face with the return of fitness coach Antonio Pintus, who was with Zidane in the first spell. Luis Llopis, the goalkeeping coach, who also worked under Zidane, returns after a spell at Real Sociedad.