Ancelotti: “Except for one.. all Real Madrid players were sub-standard against Rayo Vallecano”
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti spoke about his team’s 3-2 defeat against Rayo Vallecano in the match between the two teams on Monday evening in the thirteenth round of the Spanish Premier League. The Italian analyzed the course of the match and explained the reasons for the loss.
Ancelotti began his speech after the match, saying: “We lack continuity and quality in the last matches.”
He added: “Vinicius had problems and did not perform as well as he used to. It was a difficult match for everyone today. The attackers suffered a lot tonight. And the defense was not at its best.”
Ancelotti touched on the Champions League draw: “A match against Liverpool will be an amazing match. We will play in Anfield in the first leg and then in the Bernabeu in the second leg and this will be a special character. It will be a great match for both teams.”
The Italian continued his talk about the loss against Eo Vallecano: “We are disappointed to lose the lead after we performed very good levels since the beginning of the season and we hoped to continue like this until the World Cup stopped, but the league is very long and it is not over, of course.”
He added: “The team is not what it used to be. In these types of matches, when the opposition is pressing you a lot you need to pay attention and get the ball out quickly, and today we didn’t do that and we were behind a lot so they scored early goals and held the game for us.”
“I understand that today’s loss will be on the coach’s shoulders because this is the responsibility of coaching in football,” Ancelotti admitted. We lost sharpness and intensity tonight. We have to work to get the ball out quickly and pass the long balls to open spaces.”
And he returned to talk again about facing Liverpool in the Champions League: “They will say Real Madrid again against Liverpool, it has become a regular match, but it will be an enjoyable and complex match at the same time, and it will carry a good atmosphere at Anfield and the Bernabeu. We are looking forward to it, of course, and we will be ready for it in due course.”
He also warned that “there is only one match left before stopping, so we have to work more and we don’t want to lose more points. We will continue to work until the last moment and the players are focused on the next match.”
He explained the decline in the team’s level, saying: “I bear the responsibility for losing today and the team is not that bad as you think, we are just going through not good moments and this is normal and we will definitely come back better. I trust all the players here and we will keep fighting until the last moment and we will not stop. It’s just that they are tired because of the many matches.”
He ended his talk about the defeat against Rayo Vallecano: “Rodrygo missed two or three chances, which he usually scored easily. Asensio was the one who did well, but the rest of the players were below their normal level and it was a bad match.”
