Real Madrid to face Alavés this Sunday as part of La Liga Matchday 30. Ahead of the match, Carlo Ancelotti made some major announcements during his press conference.
A win is needed to get back to winning ways and restore some smiles ahead of the second leg against Arsenal in the Champions League next Wednesday. For that match, the Spanish capital club will be without Carlo Ancelotti, who is suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards. Before facing Alavés, Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappé fine-tuned preparations during a final training session on Saturday. After the session, the Merengue coach appeared before the media at Real’s Ciudad training centre.
Here is his exchange with the press.
How is the team ahead of facing Alavés?
“Tomorrow, I want to see a Real side capable of regaining positive feelings. It’s clear everyone is thinking about Wednesday’s match, but that depends on tomorrow’s performance. We’re still in the fight for La Liga; it’s important to play well and win. We’ve spoken about trying to put in a good performance tomorrow and to try to win. We need to give everything because it’s essential for us to get back that good feeling when we play.”
How are you personally?
“Every defeat brings difficult moments. You have to think about how to turn the situation around and focus on what’s ahead. Fortunately, in football, there’s always an opportunity to bounce back and play well. The team has trained very well these past few days and is focused on winning the match.”
Does the club still have faith in you? Does your future depend on the Champions League?
“That’s not a question for me. My contract is quite clear — I have four years. We’ll talk about the future at the end of the season, as always. I have nothing more to add. The club always supports me and helps me, especially during difficult times.”
The importance of beating Alavés
“We see this match as a great opportunity to get back to winning after a difficult week. We’re playing against a very competitive side fighting to avoid relegation. It will be tough, but the team is prepared and fully aware that tomorrow is a very important game.”
Distance covered in the Champions League
“The stats are quite clear: we ran less than the opposition, and it affected us. We could have done much more, but it wasn’t just that. We look at the statistics, just as everyone else does.”
A comeback at the Bernabéu?
“We’ll try everything to make it happen. Real Madrid is the only team in Europe to have done it several times, and we’ll try to do it once again. We know what we’re capable of when the crowd and the stadium are behind us. We’ll give everything until the final minute and the last ball, starting tomorrow.”
Can you do anything else to get the players running more?
“It depends on the characteristics of the players. The same thing has happened in previous years — we were able to win by covering less total distance. Stats tend to focus on total distance, but not on sprint distances, which isn’t fair. Despite that, we’ve won two Champions Leagues. Against Arsenal, we were worse in every aspect — sprinting, total distance, acceleration… They worked harder than we did.”
How is Ceballos?
“He’s available for tomorrow’s match and for Wednesday.”
The key arguments for pulling off a comeback?
“We have the resources to try to make it happen.”
Goals conceded
“There’s been a general drop-off — not just in the efficiency of our attack. We’ve conceded too many goals in recent matches and we have to stop that. Defensive solidity is extremely important, especially when the forwards are no longer as efficient as before.”
Real Madrid, the only quarter-finalist playing on Sunday
“We don’t understand it, but that’s the way it is. This season has gone that way. We don’t understand it, but we’ve had more than 72 hours of rest, so we can’t complain.”
Leave a Reply