Ancelotti: The January crisis was expected. Is the loss to Barcelona small or big? I don’t know, says Real Madrid coach

Real Madrid have had the toughest and probably the worst month of the season. According to Carlo Ancelotti, the January crisis was expected, but the Italian coach also expects a clear improvement. How does he view the five-point loss to Barcelona in La Liga?

January was not a good month for Real Madrid. It lost twice in La Liga, plus it lost in the Super Cup final. The first half of January was particularly bad.

Los Blancos first struggled in the Copa del Rey at the ground of the four-league Cacereño to win 1:0, then in the league they lost 1:2 to Villarreal. In the semi-final of the Super Cup they overcame Valencia after a lacklustre performance on penalties, and in the final they put in a disgraceful performance to lose 1:3 to Barcelona.

The crisis was to continue when in the Copa del Rey semi-final Real were already 0:2 down at half-time at Villarreal, but it was this moment that kick-started the team. Los Blancos turned the game around and won 3:2, then beat Athletic 2:0 in a tough game and knocked out Atlético Madrid in the CdR quarter-finals after extra time.

At the weekend, they drew at home to Real Sociedad, but after a lot of missed chances and a great performance that suggested that Real are returning to their pre-World Cup form.

“The January crisis was expected. But today we have a lot of confidence and it is obvious that we have made a big improvement,” said Carlo Ancelotti at a press conference ahead of Thursday’s match against Valencia.

His team is 5 points behind Barcelona, but still in the middle of La Liga. “The results can always be much better. Is it a lot or not enough points? I don’t know…,” Ancelotti doesn’t let it derail him.

Real Madrid have an extremely busy schedule ahead. He will be competing in four competitions (La Liga, Champions League, Copa del Rey, Club World Cup). Until the end of March, he will play a match every three days.

“The schedule is crazy. There is a limit, but they have crossed it. La Liga wants to impose theirs, UEFA and FIFA want to impose theirs, so does the Federation. We like to play a lot of games, but the problem is player fatigue. But we don’t have any days off,” said the Italian coach.

“To drop a competition? No, we will never do that. We are very close, in the semifinals of the Cup and the Club World Cup, in the eighth round of the Champions League and we will fight until the end in La Liga. This club never misses a competition,” Ancelotti assured that he does not want to sacrifice any competition at the expense of a more prestigious one.

Source: Real Madrid, MARCA