Photo: Gabriele Maltinti / Getty Images
By: EFE
Monday, November 18
Ancelotti without mincing words: “The team has balls”
The good dynamics of Real Madrid, leader of LaLiga Santander and winner in his visit to Inter Milan in the Champions League, encouraged their coach, the Italian Carlo Ancelotti, to ensure this Tuesday that his team “has balls” and showed it in complicated stadiums.
“We can improve the continuity of our game, in the defensive aspect, we are still one 60 or 70 percent, but so far we’ve done well because we have played six games, five away, and playing at the Bernabéu gives you an advantage ”, he reflected at a press conference.
“ We have played matches in difficult fields such as Valencia, Seville, Milan , that means the team has balls, “he said.
Ancelotti considers that in today’s football you have to know how to mix good football with fighting: “In Europe intensity is very important to compete and in a League, if you want to fight it, the quality of the game with many matches and having continuity is important. The spirit is the basis of the results that we have succeeded because we have always fought to the end. ”
The Madrid coach did not enter to assess the bump in Barcelona, but he predicted that this bad moment Real Madrid will also suffer throughout the season.
“From the experience I have, Every year all the teams have problems, sooner or later.
Without judging what the Barcelona coach, Ronald Koeman, is doing, Ancelotti understands that it is important to respect the philosophy of the club to whom you direct: “ A coach has to take into account the history, the tradition of each club and then evaluate the characteristics of the players , put a style that takes into account quality but also history. ”
Focusing on Real Madrid, Ancelotti did not regret the amount of injuries he is suffering and assured that “it is an issue that all teams have.”
“So many games in a season demands a lot from the players and we have to live with this problem. Nothing else can be done. One is injured, another returns. The template is quite complete and of course it is a shame, you would like to have everyone available but it is not possible.
The one he sees in good physical condition is the Belgian Eden Hazard, who rested in Milan in the Liga de Champions but he started against Valencia : “Physically he felt well after the game and played well. He is one of the players that we have to evaluate differently from the rest due to his background. It is quality of the minutes, not quantity. ”
The last to arrive at Real Madrid, the French midfielder Eduardo Camavinga, has surprised everyone with his quick adaptation.
“He has everything to play for Real Madrid, he is very young, he has no pressure because that is his character and he is showing all his quality. He is very cheerful in the dressing room, he talks with his classmates, he tries to learn Spanish quickly. It is the freshness of youth ”, highlighted the Italian coach.