REAL MADRID
Carlo Ancelotti press conference before Real Madrid vs Girona in LaLiga
The Italian sat down in front of the press, where he spoke openly about Barcelona’s Negreira controversy, as well as other topics.
Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti sat down with the media to discuss the weekly goings on in the world of football, preview the game against Girona in LaLiga, and how he feels his team is doing this season. He also provided injury updates and his thoughts on team selection.
In Real Madrid’s last game, they played against Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, who they beat comfortably 2-0 at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. Now, they face a tough task at the weekend as they are set to come up against the Catalan giants at the top of the table. No, I’m not talking about Barcelona, but Girona.
How are the team ahead of facing the surprise team of the season so far, who are top of the league? We are good. We’re playing an important game against the competition leaders. We will try to do our best. We have Rüdiger back, who didn’t have anything serious. The team is a little tired, but they are up for the game.
Are you surprised about the fact that nothing has changed in the Negreira case after 7 months? I’m worried about such a serious topic, like everyone else in the world of football. We have to let justice take its course and allow the people to get to work.
Are you worried about the damage Girona can do to Real Madrid? The worry we have is how to do things better. It’s a game that has to be a complete performance from ourselves. The team has to have balance and defend well. And when we have the ball, we have to show the quality we have to do damage.
Are Vinicius, Carvajal and Bellingham ready to start? Could you change the system? Vinicius is OK, he will start and then we’ll see how long he can handle. It depends how much is asked of him. Can I play 90 minutes? If I don’t have to run, I can play 10! (laughs) We’re not going to change the system, only details, like in every game.
What do you think of Rodrygo, who can’t quite find his scoring boots? He hasn’t scored the goals everyone had hoped, but his impact on games has been good in terms of work rate. He is the only player who has played in all the games as well those with his national team. Maybe a little rest would be good for him.
Does the result from last season against Girona (4-2 loss) and the league table position make you more worried about them? Last year the league was over for us by the time we went there. It wasn’t a good night. What happened then won’t happen tomorrow.
Is Modric going to play? As always, I’m not going to give out the starting XI. I can’t answer that question.
How can you stop Girona’s Savinho? He’s a young player who is doing very well. We have seen him play. he has a lot of quality. How to stop him? We have resources, experience and quality to stop any player.
What is the thing that worries you the most about the Negreira case? I have been in this world for 40 years and when things like this happen it worries us all. Hopefully the work can be done to arrive at a solution.
“It’s a very serious subject” -Ancelotti
The ‘argument’ with Vinicius: I told him to take care because we didn’t want to risk anything. He was playing at full speed and I only told him to calm down.
Alaba’s injury: It’s nothing serious, only a little niggle. We’ll try have him back for Tuesday.
What do you ask the full-backs to do in the system? In this part of the season we have asked them to play higher up than usual, as having two forwards moving inside means they have to help in attack out wide, especially when you don’t have the best winger, Vinicius. The work put in has turned out well and we have scored from crosses. In terms of defence, sometimes the problems we’ve had are that we haven’t been able to help out the back four. Some games they’ve suffered more than normal.
Did you ever think that you’d be facing Girona at the top of the table? Are they ready to become the Spanish Leicester? We have to evaluate the moment and give credit to the table. Girona have done better than others over these games. We have to respect that. Girona can fight for it. They have a huge advantage: they don’t have European competitions and can prepare the games well. What affects teams the most are the international competitions, because we have injuries, tiredness and problems to recover. I look at the calendar [and] there are players who come back on the evening of the 19th and we play against Sevilla on the 21st. If the plane is delayed I have to meet the player in Seville.