Real Madrid are in pole position to reach the Copa del Rey final after a battling 1-0 win over Real Sociedad in Wednesday’s first leg at the Reale Arena. Los Blancos managed to secure the victory despite being without the likes of Thibaut Courtois, Federico Valverde and Kylian Mbappe, which is a testament to the quality in depth that Carlo Ancelotti has at his disposal.
On the match, Ancelotti expressed his pleasure at the result, as per Diario AS.
“Today we rotated, but we remained solid. We were compact and played a very good game defensively, with solidarity. We are doing well, despite the rotations. Endrick has contributed a lot, in the sense that he has contributed a goal. Arda has worked very well in the position, helping a lot in the defensive aspect… We must be satisfied. It was an intense match, against an opponent who gave everything and we got a good result for the second leg.”
Ancelotti also spoke on incidents involving two of his players. Vinicius Junior was subjected to racist abuse, while Raul Asencio received chants of “Asencio, die” during the first half, and these ultimately led to his substitution at half time.
“I think the referee acted well. Vinicius spoke to the referee, stopped the game and activated the protocol. He did well. It is what he must do. I removed Asencio because of two things: he was affected (by the chants) and he had a yellow card. Nobody likes to be yelled at ‘die’. So he was affected. I preferred to remove him, because his feelings could affect him.”
Ancelotti was also asked about the injury blow suffered by Dani Ceballos in the final minutes, with early reports suggesting that the Real Madrid midfielder could be out of action for up to a month.
“Let’s see… He had a muscle problem at the end and will undergo tests tomorrow. It was a shame, there is nothing that we could do.”
