Ancelotti after El Clásico: I don’t care that we lost

Real Madrid did not win their 2nd friendly match. This time, the White Ballet lost 1:2 to their age-old rival Barcelona. However, Carlo Ancelotti remained icy calm in his post-match press conference. It might seem that the setbacks in the summer preparation lead to different thoughts in the head of the Italian coach, but the opposite is true.

The course of the match

Both teams started with incomplete line-ups, as the vast majority of the players had attended the EURO or Copa America. Thus, the players are slowly just getting into the summer preparation of their teams. Thus, we could see Alex Valle, who is only 20 years old and has not yet made his competitive debut in a Catalan jersey, starting at right-back for Barcelona.

The score of the match was opened in the 42nd minute by Pau Victor, who just tapped the ball into an empty net after a pass from Robert Lewandowski. Until then, however, Madrid were far more active and created several good chances. Endrick and Brahim Diaz had chances, but ter Stegen was able to keep them out.

The same player added his 2nd goal in the 54th minute. The 22-year-old winger was again in the right place at the right time, which he was able to take advantage of to score. Of course, going into the 2nd half, both coaches made several changes, which they added to in the 60th minute with more substitutions. The score of the match was then only corrected by Nico Paz, who pounced on a well played corner kick by Arda Guler.

Ancelotti is not panicking

The Italian strategist is known for his icy calmness, which was on display during the Champions League title quest in the spring of 2022 and this year. He kept his calm this time too: “Let’s not go crazy, it’s just friendly matches.” Ancelotti thus only confirmed that Real Madrid is more preoccupied with competitive matches and does not draw any conclusions from the friendly ones.

“The result is not important at all, what matters is that the players get fit. The main thing is that we have to slowly work the players who are just coming back from the break. We don’t even think about tactical things, we just want everyone to get some playing time. We’ll deal with tactics before a tough game,” Ancelotti explained.

At 38, Luka Modric is one of the most experienced players in the Real Madrid cabinet. Despite his advanced age, he has played 135 minutes in 2 friendlies, making him one of the busiest players in the entire team. “He came back in great form and that allowed him to play. I didn’t talk to him during the game, he just played until the end,” the Italian coach added.

The only question remaining is how will Ancelotti incorporate new arrival Kylian Mbappé into the line-up and what system will he choose? Will Real Madrid return to a 4-3-3 system as has been the custom over the last decade or will they stay in a diamond formation? We will find out the answer to these questions on August 14, when the White Ballet face the European Super Cup. One thing is for sure though, Real Madrid will not bring in any more reinforcements.

Source: Forbes, Real Madrid