Ancelotti: “Personally, I think Kroos will stay on beyond the summer”

Real Madrid are back in action on Saturday when they host Sevilla at the Bernabéu and Carlo Ancelotti held his pre-match press conference on Friday. He insisted that this won’t be an easy match, despite Sevilla’s struggles, stating: “No team is invincible and we don’t think we are. We’re in good form right now and need to keep that up. We’re now facing a team that are trying to bounce back from a difficult start. Sevilla have improved and showed good attitude in the last few games. It won’t be easy.”

Ancelotti on whether it’s too calm at Real Madrid right now

Everything seems to be going well for Real Madrid right now, on and off the pitch. Ancelotti was asked in the press conference if it’s maybe too calm and if this tranquillity worries him. He replied: “No, the calm and the good atmosphere we have doesn’t worry me. Difficulties will come for sure. We have no doubt about that. We have to be ready for that.”

Ancelotti on Isco’s return to the Bernabéu

Isco will be back at the Bernabéu on Saturday and the coach spoke about his relationship with the Spaniard, saying: “I’m happy that he is playing again and I’m looking forward to seeing him tomorrow. He was a great player for this club and a great person to me.”

Ancelotti on the World Cup

The World Cup came up, with the coach first asked if he’ll make any selection decisions to help certain players get the minutes they need to make their national team squads and then asked what he thinks the mid-season World Cup will be like. He said: “I understand the World Cup can be a concern for individual players, but as a team we won’t make decisions based on that. We’ll just play the best players to win our matches. I think it will be a much more intense World Cup than usual. In others, the players arrived exhausted, but for this one they’ll have a lot of energy. We can’t be concerned about the post-World Cup fatigue, because many clubs will have to deal with that.”

Ancelotti on Kroos’ future

Toni Kroos’ excellent form has brought up a debate about his future, as his current contract expires at the end of this season. On the chances of the German staying on, Ancelotti said: “We’ll speak after the World Cup, in January or February. Personally, I think he’ll stay on because he is doing well. He’s playing better than last season, when he had struggled in the first half of the campaign before a good second half of the season.”

Ancelotti on his targets for players

The coach famously made a bet about Fede Valverde hitting 10 goals this season and was challenged to make another similar bet with another player. But, he responded: “No, I won’t make any more bets. With my Valverde comment, I said it because it did seem strange to me that he only scored one last season, and on a counter. I knew he could score more and with outside-the-box shots. He’s similar to Asensio in that.”

Ancelotti on Sergio Ramos’ comeback

Sergio Ramos is back and doing well with PSG and the coach was asked how he thinks the centre-back is playing at this stage of his career. He said: “I’m not surprised he’s still doing well. He had injury issues, but players in modern football look after themselves more and can play longer. Maldini won a Champions League aged almost 40. So, he can keep going at a high level for some time.”