Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti was relatively relaxed about his players being whistled by their own fans on Thursday evening as fans voiced their frustrations after their 5-2 defeat to Barcelona. Los Blancos came out 5-2 winners against Celta Vigo in extra time, but that did little to convince the Bernabéu.
Ancelotti's own name was blown before the match, with Vinicius Junior and Lucas Vazquez also blowing a few whistles at points in the match. Meanwhile, the announcement of Ferland Mendy's name caused the most deafening whistles, as did Aurelien Tchouameni, who was whistled when he touched the ball.
“The Bernabéu blew the whistle as a warning and when the match got complicated, they pushed. When the Bernabeu raises the noise, it is special for us.”
“It's a wake-up call from the fans to the players and the coach. I think it's acceptable considering what happened against Barcelona. After that the team responded well, especially Tchouameni who played a great match,” Ancelotti reasoned.
“He has character, he returned to his position. He helped the central defenders a lot defensively. He pressed well, supported well,” Ancelotti said, especially about Tchouameni.
The French midfielder posted a photo on his Instagram later that evening with the caption “What doesn't kill you…”, a phrase that is usually completed with “makes you stronger.” As for what went wrong, Ancelotti had an explanation.
“When the game was almost over, we conceded two goals and then the team responded well in extra time. We played a good match until the 70th minute. We could have scored the third but it was offside and then we gave away the two goals. The response came from the team and in the end everything turned out fine,” Ancelotti told Cadena Cope, explaining why the mistakes came from Eduardo Camavinga and then from Raul Asencio.
“It was the low tension at the end, we messed up an exit from the back with poor positioning and the game opened up. That can't happen, we train not to make these mistakes and not to slow down until the end.”
Los Blancos now face Las Palmas in another home match at the Bernabeu on Sunday, where they will be without Vinicius, who is suspended following his red card against Valencia.
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