Carlo Ancelotti
, the multi-champion Italian coach of
Real Madrid
,
refused to answer questions about the possible arrival of French striker Kylian Mbappé at the White House
and assured that he would "never" answer anything about the footballer who was one step away from signing for him. Merengue but finally decided to renew his contract with Paris Saint Germain.
"It is a question that can be asked to me today, in three days, in a month or in three months.
It is a question that I will never answer
," he said without wanting to feed anything again about a possible interest of the all-powerful Spanish club in Mbappé.
Ancelotti also fled from the parallelism of his last season of the first stage as coach of Real Madrid to what he is living in the present, when a streak of irregularities provoked the first criticism of his work.
"I don't have to go back to 2015, it happens every year. When you go through a moment that's a little more difficult than normal, criticism starts. It happened last year after Barcelona, I don't have to go back. It's my job. The fine
rain I don't hear it and if I do hear it I put an umbrella in
," he explained.
Kylian Mbappé reappears on Real Madrid's radar.
Photo: REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth
Focused on the game against Espanyol,
the Real Madrid coach highlighted the importance of the next three games his team will face
, after having had days to train after nine consecutive weeks with matches every three days.
"We have worked as we usually do. We have done everything, tactical work, the offensive aspect that has not gone well in recent games. We started an important week with the game against Espanyol, the round of 16 against Liverpool and the classic We are fine, hopefully we can play a good game tomorrow", he assured.
To do this, he warned that
the level of concentration of his players must be high and without thinking about the next decisive matches
.
"It's an important moment of the season because we want to go into the match against Barcelona on Sunday with good feelings. That means winning tomorrow and going to the quarterfinals of the Champions League."
"Espanyol is a team that has spectacular motivation, they are going to play a solid game with good defensive organization, with little space and they have good strikers. Joselu is very dangerous in the air. From this point on, we have to be motivated and concentrated because it's going to be complicated".
Rodrygo will be number 9 without Benzema
A new absence of the Frenchman Karim Benzema, with an ankle problem after a blow, will cause the Brazilian Rodrygo Goes to be chosen to play as 9 against Espanyol.
"Tomorrow Rodrygo is going to play as a center forward. He has to play where the team needs him, sometimes there are games where it is better to put his qualities on the outside and in other games his quality is needed between the lines. He can play in many positions, it is the good and we have to take advantage of those qualities that it has", he highlighted.
Rodrygo will be the replacement for Benzema.
Photo: REUTERS/Susana Vera
He also sees youth squad player Álvaro Rodríguez ready to start 'Carletto', who in recent games has played the last few minutes and has already scored and assisted with the first team.
"I think he is ready. He has no experience but nobody has it when he starts a job. He has the quality to play from the first minute."
And Ancelotti confirmed that the return of the Frenchman Ferland Mendy, who returned to the group dynamics recovered from his muscle injury, will have to wait.
He "has recovered and is going to train with the team on Sunday to be available for the game against Liverpool."
Lastly, despite the latest results that keep Real Madrid from the league title and complicate their presence in the Copa del Rey final, Ancelotti's analysis was optimistic based on his team's defensive improvement and convinced that the problems offenses will be resolved quickly.
"I keep in mind that the defensive aspect is the most important thing, especially with this squad that has extraordinary quality with the ball. In the defensive aspect it is collective commitment, work, sacrifice and in recent times we have done well. The team is much more solid, he presses higher than before and gives us confidence because the quality is there", he valued.
"There are moments that you don't see, that the strikers don't get it right, but the quality is there and it ends up coming out. The base of the defensive aspect with this quality is very important."
Source: EFE
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