Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has little reason to hold back now that his deaprture to the Brazil job has been confirmed, as of Monday this week. Following victory over RCD Mallorca on Wednesday night at the Santiago Bernabeu, Ancelotti had some blunt words about the attitude of his players throughout the season.
A 95th minute goal from Castilla defender Jacobo Ramon meant that Los Blancos remained reigning champions for another day at least, with Barcelona required to beat Espanyol on Thursday night to be crowned champions. Real Madrid were without 12 senior players for the game, and with only 10 first-team players available had to be conscious of fielding an ineligibile line-up. Nevertheless, after 39 shots and plenty of huffing and puffing, Real Madrid got over the line in classic fashion, having fallen behind to Mallorca early on.
Ancelotti critical of attitude – ‘If we’d done that all season’
The absences were a dominant talking point both before and after the game.
“”Yes, we’ve covered so many losses with extraordinary effort. If we had done this in more games, the season would have been better,” Ancelotti told Diario AS pointedly, questioning said effort.
There has also been a running theme in the local media that perhaps more of a disciplinarian could have done more with Real Madrid this season, necessitating more stick than carrot. Ancelotti said earlier this season that he has never been much of one for the ‘whip’, and after the Mallorca game was asked about managing the group in his final weeks of his tenure.
“Nothing special, it’s been simple, without problems. It’s been good management, the players have shown me the necessary respect, there have been no problems in that sense. The problems haven’t been because of that. The left hand and the whip… all that nonsense… They were balance issues.”
Players returning against Sevilla
Ancelotti will hope to have more resources at his disposal for Los Blancos’ trip to Sevilla this weekend, and named five potential reinforcements.
“Tchouameni could return. The doubts are Vinicius, Lucas, Brahim, and Lunin, who was stamped on the hand yesterday. Four of them could recover.”
The French midfielder was suspended for the Mallorca game, and should be back. There are more doubts about the ability of Vinicius Junior and Lucas Vazquez to return from an ankle and a muscle injury.
