Ancelotti: “I don’t see anything negative today”

The old Vallecas, like the Santiago Bernabéu, is also under construction and has an empty stand. The venue on Avenida de la Albufera, however, does not aspire to become a futuristic silver ship, but to its own survival, to continue standing after many years of neglect and oxidation. But the splendor, much or little, of the infrastructure said nothing this Saturday about the teams. Quite the contrary. It was a contested Rayo, despite his fifth consecutive defeat, and a Madrid again blurred, from more to less, rescued in the penultimate breath by the only ray of light from his liquidating partner: Benzema and Vinicius.

After 83 minutes in the dark, they once found the switch. Enough. Of the 52 goals scored by the Whites this season, 40 (77%) have been scored or assisted by the French and the Brazilian. The nine whites (19 goals and nine assists) are only surpassed in production in the five major leagues by Salah (19 and 10) and Lewandowski (28 goals and 1).

The difficulties for Madrid were clear, but Carlo Ancelotti left Vallecas delighted with life. “Today I don’t see anything negative, I’m very happy,” said the Italian. “I am very satisfied with the commitment and intensity. I see the team with more energy, trying to push higher. The match was going to be like this, it was complicated by the grass”, pointed out the coach. A criticism of the cobblestone to which Thibaut Courtois joined with blood. “It is always better to play on a good field than on this. For the League, if we want to give an image, I don’t think it’s good”, censored the goalkeeper, decisive as almost always. Shortly before Vinicius and Benzema threaded the victory, Courtois was present again with a double save, and before that he had already headed Mario Suárez. Carletto, however,

“That they are left over”, shouted the Vallecas stands, also answering even in their most comfortable seats. Actually, Madrid’s problem had more to do with football than its airs of grandeur. For many minutes, there were no more traces in attack than those of Marco Asensio, but his most enlightened man in recent days had his vision clouded before his former teammate Luca Zidane (son of Zinedine), with whom he finished chatting in the field . The Balearic did not lack occasions, two as soon as he opened his eyes the clash, and all ended in the well.

Although no one was more erratic than Casemiro, who showed up in the south of Madrid with a dislocated foot. He racked up several turnovers and, more surprisingly, was outplayed in a few contests. Until, midway through the second half, he ended up carded and replaced by Valverde after a blow to Óscar Valentín that all Rayo judged as an unappealable red card. “It’s expulsion, there’s blood on the sock. The referee told us no because he does not bend his ankle, but if he bends it more he breaks it, ”Mario Suárez complained. Casemiro continued, but Ancelotti immediately sent him to the shower after a twisted afternoon.

A performance, that of the midfielder, which reflected the regular times suffered by the white core. “The midfielders have suffered more, they have lost more balls because the field was not good and it was difficult to control. It was a back and forth match. We took a bit of risk, maybe we lacked a bit of defensive balance. They have been dangerous on the counter”, justified Ancelotti.

Casemiro relieved, Madrid shot until the decisive goal with Kroos, Modric and Valverde, and the Italian was asked if that could be the combination against PSG given the Paulista’s absence due to cards. “It could be, it’s the average that has the most opportunities to play that game”, pointed out the white coach.

The Ukrainian Lunin, drops at the last minute

Ukrainian goalkeeper Andriy Lunin fell out of Real Madrid’s call this Saturday morning. This Friday, Carlo Ancelotti stated that the goalkeeper had his mother and his friends in kyiv, and that he was very worried. “He doesn’t have the spirit of before. It’s normal”, pointed out the Italian coach, who said that he and Florentino Pérez had spoken with the player. “The only thing we can do is be close and show our love,” he said. At the end of the game, Carletto attributed the absence to “swelling in the elbow.” Finally, the substitute goalkeeper was Luis López.

In the hours before the match against Rayo, Lunin, 23, made an appeal on his networks for people to bring “canned food, cotton, elastic rubber, bandages, hemostatic drugs, painkillers and warm socks to a market in Madrid. ”. In addition, he gave voice to a demonstration this Sunday in the center of the capital with the slogan “Ukraine for peace and freedom”, and published the photo of the Barcelona and Napoli squads this Thursday in the Europa League holding the banner with the message “Stop war” (Stop the war).