Ancelotti: "The team is ready to win once again"

Sergio Ramos did not take part in this morning's training session, and Ancelotti confirmed he will not feature against Espanyol:

Ramos will not play tomorrow, just like Pepe did not play against Atlético. He had an injury during the Club World Cup and making him play too much could be dangerous. We want to avoid this risk, but he will be back against Atlético on Thursday.

On the other hand, our coach denied that Ronaldo could have any problem with his knees and confirmed he will be in the lineup tomorrow:

I speak to all my players before every game and we always decide what we think is best for the team. Before the last game against Atlético, Ronaldo was feeling a bit tired and that's why we decided to leave him on the bench, but he is perfect now and will play tomorrow.

Ancelotti also denied that our players are suffering any physical issue:

We have data to support the fact that our players' physical condition is good. I think we are not being able to find our pace and intensity after the Christmas break, but this is something we will solve. It is normal that our players' minds are not totally focused just yet, after such a long winning streak and the holidays, but we want to win again and start a new streak.

There were words for the transfer rumor everyone is speaking about right now, obviously:

Odegaard trained with us and we have been able to check that he has a great talent, but we have not made any decision yet.

However, Ancelotti denied Real Madrid would sign any of the other players they have been linked to in this transfer window when he was asked about Lucas Silva:

As we said, we needed to evaluate the recovery process of Khedira and Modric before signing Silva or anyone like him. With Khedira on the team and Modric soon to be ready, we don't need any other midfielder.