Ancelotti: “We didn’t go into the second half with a good attitude”

Real Madrid and Levante played out a thrilling 3-3 draw at the Estadi Ciutat de València on Sunday, one which frustrated Carlo Ancelotti. The coach spoke afterwards of a lack of attitude in defence, while he also briefly broke down each of the Levante goals.

Speaking in the post-match press conference, he said: “Where we’ve lost points today wasn’t in attack, but it was in defence. I think we were compact and together in the first half. In the second half, we didn’t go into it with a good attitude. We conceded a goal straight away, which could have been avoided. With the second goal, we could have been more compact too. To have more defensive solidity, everyone has to work. Their first goal was down to not being well positioned positionally. The second was a cross where we were two vs three and that can’t happen. Their third was back luck.”

Vinícius was the star of the show, with his two goals, and Ancelotti was asked if he thinks the Brazilian can become a great goalscorer. On the youngster, the Italian said: “He’s very quick and he can improve on his scoring. I don’t know if he’ll become a great goalscorer because he plays out wide. But, he is quicker than other players, as we saw with his first goal today. Inside the penalty area, it’s more complicated for him because he doesn’t have that type of quality. But, with the qualities he does have he can score many goals, especially in one vs one situations. He’s going to be an important player for us. He could start the next match, although I don’t yet know that and we’ll see in midweek. But, I don’t think it’s so important to start a match. It’s about deciding matches. Today, Vinícius helped decide the final score with his abilities.”

Pressed on the issue of sharing the available minutes among the many forwards of the Real Madrid squad, Ancelotti added: “We have a lot of quality in attack. We have Rodrygo, Bale, Hazard, Vinícius, Karim and Jović, who did very well when he came in. We have to enjoy this quality and give the minutes to whoever deserves them most.”