Ancelotti excited: “I’m not the best, but I’m not the dumbest either”
Real Madrid coach was annoyed by several questions about the game against Barcelona and said he was not in a debate
Real Madrid face Celta in the Copa del Rey, but Carlo Ancelotti’s press conference looked less to the future and more to the past. The heavy 2-5 defeat to Barcelona in the Super Cup final was a topic of conversation and even some contention, with the Madrid coach getting heated over a number of issues.
“The defeat to Barcelona was a setback, but we have to move forward. We are well placed in all competitions. It was a bad game, with a lot of mistakes, but we assessed it and looked for a solution. We have to move forward, starting with tomorrow’s game,” Ancelotti began by saying. Asked whether one of the problems was related to the lack of defensive commitment from the forwards, the Italian said that the problem was “collective”: “It was a bad game across the entire defensive line. There is nothing more to add.”
But the issue continued to arise, even after Ancelotti reiterated that “the lack of commitment was collective”. Until the coach “put his foot down on the table”: “Let’s get one thing straight: this is a press conference, not a debate. We have already spoken with the players and the coaching staff. Speaking here doesn’t seem to me to be the most appropriate thing to do.”
The criticism of Real Madrid , which has been performing below expectations for many, has been mounting. «I don’t follow the wave of criticism. I have the necessary balance, which experience has given me, to know who I am and not get carried away by the wave. I don’t think I’m the best, but I don’t see myself as the stupidest either», said Ancelotti, who also rejected the idea of the squad being short: «We have youth, energy, quality and commitment, although we don’t always show it. I continue to trust this team, which won the Champions League six months ago and the Intercontinental Cup a month ago. We’re in all the competitions and, the other day, we paid a high price for everything we’ve done. We’ll fight until the end, as always. I have total confidence in my players, especially those who aren’t being the best version of themselves.»
