Ancelotti: “I spoke to the referee, but his explanation didn’t convince me much”

Real Madrid suffered a Clásico hangover, drawing 0-0 with Osasuna at home. Frustrated, Carlos Ancelotti stated: “I didn’t like the first half much as we didn’t switch the play much. We went down the left an awful lot. I liked the second half much more. I can’t be critical of my players, who gave everything. We have to understand that we might have tough games like this. We have wingers who can beat their man, but there are many players in the area when you play certain teams. We tried to reach the area from the outside. We tried many dangerous crosses. We have to find solutions.”

He went on to explain why he didn’t put Luka Jovic on for the crosses in the final stages, saying: “I didn’t think we needed more physical presence. We had several crosses that were close and just needed to anticipate more.”

Ancelotti on the refereeing

The Italian rarely comments on the refereeing, but he did in this case as he discussed two issues. First, he spoke about the possible penalty on Vinícius in the first half. On that, he said: “It’s a very complicated issue. To me, it seemed like a stamp that could be a penalty. Why didn’t VAR come in? I don’t know.”

He also explained that he spoke to the referee at full time about the lack of stoppage time, saying: “The added time seemed to little to me, given how the game went. So, I asked for an explanation... that didn’t convince me much to be honest.”

Ancelotti on Koeman’s possible sacking

On Koeman’s situation at Barcelona, he said: “They’ve sacked me many times and I’m still here alive. It’s part of this profession. The day after you’re sacked, you just need to look forward. I think Koeman is doing all he can.”