In a press conference this Sunday ahead of the Copa del Rey match against Deportiva Minera, Carlo Ancelotti made an important announcement regarding penalty takers in his team. After Jude Bellingham missed his penalty on Friday against Valencia, the Italian coach has made a surprising decision.
Real Madrid is preparing to play its second match of 2025. Following their hard-fought victory against Valencia last Friday in a rescheduled match from La Liga’s 12th round, Carlo Ancelotti and his players will face Deportiva Minera this Monday in the Copa del Rey. Ahead of this key match, and before travelling to Saudi Arabia for the Spanish Super Cup, the Madrid coach provided updates on his squad. He confirmed that some key players, such as Rüdiger and Mbappé, will be rested for the match. Ancelotti also revealed his decision about the team’s penalty taker.
Ancelotti’s completely unexpected choice
While Kylian Mbappé, who has taken around 50 penalties in his career with a success rate of 79%, is seen as the favourite ahead of Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham for the role of primary penalty taker, the 65-year-old coach has opted for a different approach. Speaking to the media on Sunday, Carlo Ancelotti announced that he will not assign a definitive penalty taker but will decide on a case-by-case basis for each match.
“I didn’t like the fact that we’ve missed so many. If we had scored, there wouldn’t have been a problem. I will clarify before each match who the penalty taker will be. The taker could be Vini, Bellingham, Mbappé, Modric, Arda Güler…,” Carletto explained before elaborating on his unexpected decision: “Penalties are a very complex technical aspect to work on because the atmosphere changes during a match. In a training session, it’s impossible to replicate the atmosphere of a stadium.”
This is a strong choice that aims to avoid creating jealousy within the squad. Highly focused on maintaining balance and cohesion within his group, Carlo Ancelotti clearly does not want to upset his young stars by permanently prioritising one over the others as the penalty taker. For now, the decision is clear, and time will tell whether the coach’s strategy will change the current trend. Notably, out of the last four penalties awarded to Real Madrid, three have been missed (two by Mbappé and one by Bellingham against Valencia).
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