Ancelotti: “Defending and waiting for the counterattack isn’t embarrassing”

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has talked to Corriere dello Sport, where he shared his thoughts about the ongoing 2022 FIFA World Cup and the different playing styles displayed at the tournament.

“In Spain people are very disappointed, they had high expectations even though the team is young. It’s not a good moment for Luis Enrique, he was being criticized ahead of the last game so you can imagine how it’s going now. To me, defending and waiting for the counterattack isn’t embarrassing, even if I have quality players. When you have guys like Vinicius or Mbappe if you don’t look for the vertical pass right after recovering the ball you are a criminal. Mourinho is the greatest of our kind and he said he won many games with defense and counterattack,” said Ancelotti.

The coach also shared his thoughts about Vinicius.

“He’s more confident about his own game and the team senses that. Vinicius and Mbappe have explosiveness out of this world. Brazil are the most complete team, but I’m curious about the match between England and France,” he added.

Ancelotti also confirmed that Benzema will be back on Saturday and that the staff “will get him ready.”

The Italian coach spoke about Cristiano Ronaldo and the controversy around Portugal’s camp following Fernando Santos’ decision to bench him.

“I didn’t see their game, I was eating pizza with my grandchildren. They benched him, so what? Anything is possible in football. He might feel he’s 20 years old because of the way he’s looked after his body, but he’s facing huge competition in his national team. I never had an issue with him, I’ll say more. He fixed my own problems. How can a guy who scores one goal per game be a problem? It was easy for me to manage him,” he said.

The coach concluded his brief interview by explaining how he’s changed his approach over the years.

“I’ve changed because I am more flexible now. Years ago, it was tough for me to change the system and the tactics during a game, now the game itself and the players have evolved and being that fundamentalist is over. Over the course of a match you can defend with three, switch to 4-4-2 or play 4-5-1. The opponent you’re facing and the development of the match can’t be understated,” he said.