Ancelotti: “I’m proud of the team and, if we keep playing like this, we’ll win

Following Real Madrid’s 2-1 loss at the Camp Nou, one that leaves Los Blancos 12 points behind Barcelona in the table, Carlo Ancelotti spoke to the media and analysed the performance. While disappointed about the result, the Italian insisted that he was proud of the display, stating: “We’re sad and hurting, but we’re proud of the performance. If we keep playing like this over the rest of the season, we’ll win something. We had doubts after the Super Cup Clásico when it wasn’t a good game at all, but today we did really well. I honestly don’t think we deserved to lose today.”

Ancelotti on the 12-point gap

Discussing the gap at the top of LaLiga, Ancelotti was asked why he thinks Barcelona have managed to build up such a lead and if he admits that the title race is over. To that, he said: “It’s simple. They’ve been more consistent than us this season. Our January let us down a lot, just after the World Cup. Now, we’re doing well and I think we’ll finish the season well. We are now further behind than we were before the game, but we’ll give our all in every game over the rest of the season.”

Ancelotti on his substitutions

Asked to explain his substitutions in the second half, he responded: “I thought we’d had a good first half, so making changes at half-time would have been absurd. Then we made substitutions around the hour mark. The scheme didn’t change, just the personnel. I swapped out Nacho for Mendy because he had a yellow and Rodrygo for Kroos for more offense. Then we changed the three midfielders for more energy. I made that triple change in the 75th minute. Should I have made them in the 70th minute? I don’t know. Those changes were nothing new and I think the substitutions helped drive the team on. We played well from the 60th minute on.”

Ancelotti on Vinícius vs Araújo

Discussing the latest instalment of the duel between Vinícius vs Araújo, the coach said: “Keeping in mind Araújo’s quality, I think Vinícius had a good game today. He did well and took him on a lot, winning duels. As always, he was great.”

Ancelotti on the Asensio disallowed goal

The Italian discussed the Asensio disallowed goal too and said he isn’t 100 percent convinced that the Mallorcan actually was offside. He stated: “I’m not sure if it was offside. If VAR is sure, then great. In the World Cup it was clearer with the semi-automatic offside. We go back to Madrid with doubts.”

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