Ancelotti: “The title isn’t won, I once lost a Champions League final I was winning 3-0”

Real Madrid’s 3-0 win over Real Mallorca puts them 10 points ahead of second-placed Sevilla with just 10 games to go, but Carlo Ancelotti isn’t taking anything for granted yet. Asked in his post-match press conference how Real Madrid could possibly throw away the title from here, he replied: “I was winning a Champions League final 3-0 once and lost it. That happened. I hope something like that won’t happen again. We have a significant advantage and that’s good, but it doesn’t change our approach to the rest of the season. We have to think about winning on Sunday. That’s it.”

Discussing the game against the islanders, Ancelotti highlighted how physical it was and how there was always the risk of a yellow card or worse. He said: “It was a very competitive game with a lot of contact. I think the referee did well with most of the tight decisions. When we went up, I took off Fede Valverde and Casemiro to avoid yellow cards because it was a competitive game. But, I think the referee did well.”

Ancelotti on Real Madrid’s injury concerns

Ancelotti also had to make some substitutions because of injuries and he was asked for his initial thoughts on Rodrygo, Ferland Mendy and Karim Benzema’s physical issues. He replied: “We’ll have to look over the next few days. I don’t think it’s anything serious. Even Rodrygo’s injury, it was just a knock but a sore one. With Mendy, it was an overload in the adductor. Then, Karim didn’t land well after a jump. We’ll have to wait until Wednesday to know how they are and if they’ll be ready for Sunday.”

Ancelotti on Antonio Pintus’ work

Generally, though, Real Madrid have a healthy squad right now and that is credit to Antonio Pintus. On his fellow Italian, Ancelotti said: “Like the others, he’s doing a very good job with the physical work. We’re doing well to combine the physical work with the technical and tactical work.”