Carlo Ancelotti confirmed the absences of David Alaba and Gareth Bale in Vallecas, where he hopes that his team reaffirms the reaction shown in the second half against Alavés and that it is the end of a period in which he acknowledged that they have “suffered for many reasons” .
“I am optimistic, we have to evaluate what is happening and we have not had a good period. After the Super Cup we have suffered for many reasons. Now we are better, the game against Alavés left good feelings, a good reaction and a good game in the second part. This week’s training allows us to improve, hopefully we can show it tomorrow”, he wished.
And he will have to do it with two casualties that the Italian coach confirmed, the Austrian Alaba and the Welshman Bale due to muscular discomfort. “Tomorrow Bale will not play because Alaba has had an overload this week and the two will not be available this week. They will be back next week.” Focused solely on LaLiga Santander, ‘Carletto’ described the next two games as “finals” and pointed to the difficulty they will have to overcome to defeat Rayo Vallecano at home.
“It’s a difficult game because Rayo is doing very well, especially at home. It’s going to be a game that demands a lot from us. We’ve trained well, the team is ready to play a good game,” he said. “Before PSG we have two finals, because winning in Vallecas and against Real Sociedad would mean a lot for the League,” he added.
For this reason, the rotations do not enter Ancelotti’s head, who said he is going to “put in the best team” in the two games prior to the search for the comeback against Paris Saint-Germain, an appointment in which he did not hide the substitute of the sanctioned Casemiro. “I think Toni Kroos doesn’t need to get used to that position because he has done it many times.”
Against Rayo, the Real Madrid coach is confident that changes will be seen that he has worked on with his team. “If the problem had been physical, you wouldn’t play the second half better than the first. We’ve talked about it and it’s good for us to play against Rayo because they’re one of the best teams scoring goals in the league in the first 30 minutes. Tomorrow we’ll start fine,” he said confidently.
“We are going to improve, we are trying to change the strategy a bit to be more intense and aggressive, to push higher because I see the team with the energy to do it,” he detailed. “Since the defeat against Espanyol we have gone on to defend with a low block, it went well for us, we won ten games in a row and then it was harder for us to exploit the counterattack. We are thinking of using a higher block, pressing higher to have more control when we don’t we have the ball.”
He highlighted the role of Marco Asensio and the importance of his goals. “He has this quality (he shoots outside the box) and he can exploit it for the team. Marco is doing well, he’s motivated and in good physical condition, making the difference in many games with important goals. Many times he opened the scoring and others sentenced the match”.
And he ended by praising the moment that Barcelona is going through after its last two goals, in the League and against Naples in the Europa League. “He has done very well in Napoli, it is not easy to beat him and he has done it with a very complete game. Barcelona is always a team that fights for the League, also this year, now they are doing very well”.
EFE
