Ancelotti: “It’s a good sign for all three forwards to have scored”

Second-half goals from Marco Asensio, Vinícius and Karim Benzema saw Real Madrid defeat Alavés 3-0 on Saturday night. Reflecting on the performance and how significant it was after the PSG loss, Carlo Ancelotti said in his press conference that: “For all three forwards to score, that’s a good sign. We needed a match like this, although the first half was a difficult one too. At half time, I said that we needed to show more quality in the final third. We did that and worked well. We spoke this week about how we hadn’t started some matches with the intensity needed. We’ve been better in second halves recently. Maybe the opponents play at a reduced pace in the second half and we make the most of that.”

Ancelotti on his lack of substitutions

There weren’t any Real Madrid substitutions until the 82nd minute, once it was already 2-0. Asked about this, Ancelotti explained that he felt the team had been playing well and didn’t need a change. He said: “When Asensio scored, we decided to wait. I liked what they were doing. Generally, we were playing well. It was just in the final third that we had lacked something.”

Ancelotti on the whistles

There were whistles from the crowd at half time, but the coach wasn’t overly concerned about this. He stated: “The fans judge what they’re seeing. They didn’t like the first-half performance, but they liked the second-half performance. None of the players were happy with the first half either. I know the fans are behind us.”