Ancelotti: "Illarramendi had an offer from Athletic Bilbao"

Carlo Ancelotti spoke to the press before Saturday's match against Real Sociedad and confirmed that Lucas Silva is available.

Lucas Silva is available, it's clear that he's not in the best condition as he was completing his pre-season in Brazil, but we'll try to give him minutes.

When asked about how Real Madrid will replace Cristiano Ronaldo, Ancelotti was clear.

We are not changing our formation, it's true that James will move forward a bit, but our formation will not change. Bale will play on the left as James will move to the right as well, this is the only thing that will change.

There were doubts about whether Illarramendi was on his way out of the club or not, but Real's coach announced that he will stay.

Illarramendi will play tomorrow. It's true that Illarramendi had an offer from Bilbao, but he's comfortable here and he decided to stay. We're happy with him and how professional his behavior is.

Ancelotti also spoke about Ronaldo's situation and condition.

It's never good to be suspended, Cristiano will use this week to work, but he doesn't need to recover from anything. He doesn't have problems on his knees, he will work as always to be ready for next week's game against Atlético de Madrid and he will have the next two days off. He apologized after what happened in Córdoba, he made a mistake, he knows it, he apologized and he will now miss two games. This won't happen again.

Real Madrid lost against Real Sociedad 4-2 after earning a two-goal lead, but this is not the same Real Madrid squad, according to Ancelotti.

This is a different Real Madrid from the one that lost 4-2 against Real Sociedad during the first half of the season.

The journalists asked him about the kick-off times, as Real Madrid have been playing early over the last couple of weeks.

I'd rather play during the night, but we're used to every kick-off time. But you have more time to prepare if the game kicks-off at night.