Ancelotti: “I’m not stupid. They told us this wasn’t a penalty”

After Real Madrid’s feisty match report headline of “refereeing controversy robs Madrid of win” over the weekend as well as Ancelotti’s fiery comments about penalties being “made up”, many people were keen to see the pre-match press conference for the final Group Stage match of the Champions League, a home tie against bottom team, Celtic.

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Adding to France’s woes (after both Kanté and Pogba were ruled out of the World Cup), Ancelotti declared “Tchouameni will not be available”. He also updated us on Benzema, saying “he has trained and now I have to decide if he starts or not; it will depend on how he feels.”

Ancelotti, the symbol of tranquility... oh, he’s complaining again.

“I have never lacked respect towards a referee”, opens Ancelotti, after last weekend disrespecting the referee. The Italian, normally football’s figurehead of calmness and raised eyebrows, dug himself even deeper into his hole: “For me it’s not a penalty, if they have changed the rules I don’t know. It was a mistake. Nobody is infallible.”

He carried on: “I don’t know [if he will be suspended]. I still sleep during the night. I want to make clear that I haven’t disrespected anyone. I said something everyone in the world of football understands. Talking of inventions” - oh no - “VAR is a good invention. Sometimes VAR has more of a role than the referee. It came in to clear up obvious errors; I understand that is a very thin line but I don’t think blowing for a penalty [like the one on Asensio] is a clear error. I have been on the bench for 1,200 games, missing four won’t be a problem.”

Somebody ask him something different!

Thankfully, the topic of referees was diverted by someone who deserves a pay rise and the boss was asked about Celtic, the game Madrid are actually due to play in tomorrow (2 November). “It is an important game. Celtic aren’t going to change their identity. They are going to play with a lot of passion. It will be a very open game. I respect this team a lot.”

He was also asked about whether Spanish football is suffering through a disaster period, given the poor performances of all Spanish teams in the Champions League, except themselves. Here, the normal Ancelotti came back to us: “To talk about Spanish football and what has happened, we have to wait a while because in May there could be a Spanish winner of the Europa League.”

Kroos: Everything’s going to be OK

Given Carlo Ancelotti is going through an emo-phase of being angry at the world, it was down to Madrid’s metronome Toni Kroos to make everyone forget about their problems and just relax. He was, in typical fashion, calm about his future with the club: “The club aren’t going to say anything to me tomorrow. Both the club and I are calm. We have a good relationship after almost 8 and a half years together. We’ll speak later and everything is going to be OK. I’m sure.”

He was asked about the penalty, naturally, ton which he replied “there are talks with referees but they’re going to blow for what that they believe, they decide. The other day, for me, is not a penalty, but I don’t like talking about referees. During the game he was fine.”

Kroos, with his 5 Champions Leagues, was asked about a potential number 6 to squeeze into his trophy cabinet: “It wouldn’t be bad! I know how to count to six but that’s not the issue. Every year is the same, we want to win but know it’s impossible. We have a team to compete.”

He was asked, shockingly, about the game tomorrow: “We need a win. We are motivated to finish first, that’s the objective. We have the team to do so; we need to have a good game and I’m optimistic.

Real Madrid play Celtic tomorrow (Wednesday 2 November) at 16:00 ET / 21:00 CEST. Follow the action live on our live feed 90 minutes before kick-off.