One of many main factors of debate within the Spanish capital all season has been whether or not Actual Madrid may begin all of their star-studded attacking quartet, particularly Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes, with out sacrificing the stability of the facet. Whereas it has confirmed an elusive goal all season, in opposition to Manchester Metropolis throughout two legs, Carlo Ancelotti lastly noticed what he needed.
Throughout his post-match press convention, Ancelotti defined that their 3-1 victory over Metropolis was ‘the very best model of Actual Madrid’ all season. Talking within the combine zone after the sport, he would exit of his option to spotlight the defensive work of his entrance 4.
“First. We certified. Second. We defended effectively. Third, we performed good soccer,” he advised Guillem Balague of CBS Sports activities Golazo.
“I’m actually happy with this [the defensive work-rate]. With all this high quality in entrance, it’s tough to suppose that we may defend so effectively. However the sacrifice of the 4 was implausible in these two video games, and that is the important thing. As a result of whenever you defend effectively, in entrance, we’re actually harmful, as a result of we’ve a lot high quality.”
Carlo Ancelotti reacts to Actual Madrid beating Man Metropolis and progressing to the Champions League Spherical of 16 ⚪ pic.twitter.com/eZLKBMBPh1
— CBS Sports activities Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) February 19, 2025
At numerous factors this season, Ancelotti has talked about ‘collective dedication’ with out the ball, and Ancelotti was requested how he satisfied them to purchase into that.
“Merely I referred to as them. All collectively. And I stated to them, to be extra targeted defensively. And so they did. With the ball. With Mbappe, Bellingham, Vini. With the ball from Raul [Asencio]. So we’ve numerous choices. We could be actually harmful in transition, we will play good balls, we will play one in opposition to one on the perimeters, numerous velocity with Mbappe, numerous potentialities to assault.”
Their successive victories over Pep Guardiola’s facet had been the primary landmark wins of the season for Actual Madrid, and they are going to be hoping to kick on and progress from it. In opposition to a denatured Metropolis facet, they appeared lots sturdy, however shall be face extra problem in all probability in opposition to Bayer Leverkusen or Atetico Madrid within the subsequent spherical.