While Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti was pleased with his side’s comeback victory at second-bottom Valencia on Friday, he criticised their first-half performance, in which they went a goal down.
Luka Modric and Jude Bellingham both scored in the final few minutes of the game, after Vinicius Junior had been sent off in the 79th minute, to earn three points after Hugo Duro had opened the scoring on 27 minutes.
“It’s difficult to explain how bad we were in the first half and how good we were in the second, and with a man down,” Ancelotti told reporters.
“We deserved three points, but we can’t show these two sides. Tremendously bad in the first half, tremendously good in the second with 10 men.”
Bellingham’s winner came in the 95th minute, with him having missed a penalty earlier in the half. Ancelotti was pleased with his ability to redeem his performance, but was irked at his side having failed to score three of their last four spot kicks.
5 – Valencia had five shots on target against Real Madrid in the first half, their highest half-time tally in a LaLiga match since a year ago (5 vs Villarreal on 2 January 2024). Resurrection.
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) January 3, 2025
“It bothers me that we missed three penalties, I think I have to take responsibility for choosing who is going to take the penalty,” he said.
“Bellingham didn’t lose faith after missing the penalty, it gave him extra motivation. His last 30 minutes can only be done by him. He made an extraordinary effort.”
The main negative of the evening from a Real Madrid perspective was the red card for Vinicius, which he received for slapping the Valencia goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski
“We think it wasn’t a red card… But the team reacted to this difficulty. We are going to appeal, I don’t know if they will accept it,” said Ancelotti.
Following the result, Real Madrid climbed to the top of LaLiga, two points above Atletico Madrid, who have a game in hand. Valencia remain 19th in the table, four points from safety and level with bottom-of-the-league Valladolid.
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