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Carlo Ancelotti: "Cristiano will not play tomorrow, he's not at 100%"

Pepe, Varane, Carvajal and Di María are also out

Denis Doyle

Carlo Ancelotti still believes that Real Madrid can win the Liga BBVA title.

Anything can happen in football, we must not think about the Final. I think that Cristiano could try to risk for tomorrow's match if it was a Final but since it isn't, we want to get him ready for the match against Espanyol.

Radio Marca's Antón Meana asked about Arbeloa and Khedira.

They are ready and available and they are going to play. But I don't know if they'll start the game or not. But they will play for sure. They might start but to play the second half could be better for them because of the intensity, so I don't know. But they will play.

Ancelotti kept on answering questions about Khedira,

He's fine, he has the doctors' permission. He can't play 90 minutes yet but his condition is really good both mentally and physically. And for Arbeloa is the same. They've been very professional and they have done an unbelievable job.

The team's attitude is good, according to Ancelotti.

We are not happy about these last two draws but we are not going to play the Final with a bad attitude. We still need to wait and see what happens with the Liga BBVA.

Celta are playing really well.

They play well and with a very beautiful style. Our defensive work needs to be the best and we need to control the game with the right attitude.

On Cristiano Ronaldo's absence

We always said that we were not going to risk a player who wasn't at 100%. We managed to win a lot of games without him and even though he's a crucial player for us, we prefer not to risk him.

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