Ancelotti: “We have things to work on, but we don’t have training time to work on them”

Ahead of Real Madrid’s Super Cup semi-final against Valencia on Wednesday night, Carlo Ancelotti spoke in a pre-semi-final press conference in Riyadh on Tuesday and said: “We have to fight for every competition and our aim is to win every title. Winning a sextuple isn’t our objective right now, the objective right now is to win the tournament in front of us, which is the Super Cup. Last year’s title here gave us a lot of confidence for the rest of the season and we hope this Super Cup can do the same. We’ll have to play two good games in order to win it. This is a very important exam for us. My grandmother used to tell me to keep my books underneath my pillow before exams when I was younger and it worked out, so I’ll try that again.”

Ancelotti on his relationship with Gennaro Gattuso

The Italian will be taking on one of his former players in this game, in the form of Gennaro Gattuso. But, he admitted that their relationship turned sour, saying: “We had really nice moments and years together, winning the Champions League. Later, relationships don’t always stay good and we’ve had some personal problems, but I don’t want to talk about those.”

Ancelotti on Real Madrid’s post-World Cup form

Even if they only dropped points against Villarreal, Real Madrid haven’t been convincing in any of their post-World Cup games. Ancelotti knows this, but lamented the fact that the busy schedule leaves little time to work on the training ground. He said: “We knew we might not be at our best at this stage of the season, but I was a little surprised by the Villarreal game. I would say we have things to work on, but we don’t actually have much training time to work. But, we do need to play better because this team is capable of doing so. We need to defend well and be more solid than we were against Villarreal because Valencia have a lot of quality up front. Our solid low block has given us a lot of success and I think we can fix it without much work, just with more concentration.”

Ancelotti on the non-Spanish line-up

Asked about the Real Madrid line-up against Villarreal and the fact that this was the first ever starting XI with no Spaniard in the club’s history, Ancelotti replied: “I think it was a coincidence that no Spaniards started. This is a very Spanish and international club. We do have Spaniards in the academy and Real Madrid’s academy has produced the most Spaniards who play in LaLiga. So, I think it was just a coincidence this stat.”

Ancelotti on the prospect of a penalty shootout

Asked if he and his players have prepared for a possible penalty shootout, he admitted that they hadn’t, explaining: “The truth is that we don’t train penalties much. It’s impossible to replicate the real life atmosphere of an important penalty in training.”

Ancelotti on Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival in Saudi Arabia

Asked for a comment about Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer to Al Nassr, Ancelotti wished the Portuguese the best and also used this as an opportunity to wish Gareth Bale well in retirement. He said: “Of course it was a fantastic signing for this club and we wish Cristiano all the best because he is a legend of our club. We also wish Gareth Bale all the best, after he announced his retirement yesterday.”