Ancelotti: “I think Vinícius will be back before the six weeks that was predicted”

Carlo Ancelotti spoke to the media on Saturday, previewing Sunday night’s LaLiga game against Real Sociedad and looking ahead to the busy schedule coming up over the rest of September. At his press conference, he said: “Our international players have played well and scored goals this break, so everybody is back feeling extra motivated. They’ve returned in good condition to play. Ceballos is back and ready to be in the squad, but Mendy isn’t. I think Mendy can be back for the game on Wednesday. We have many fixtures coming up so I’ll have to rotate more than when we had just one game per week, but tomorrow’s is a very important one. Real Sociedad are a very good team. Kubo is playing very well for them and we’ll have to watch him because he is scoring goals.”

Ancelotti on the kick-off time

Asked if he is annoyed that Real Madrid are playing at 21:00 on Sunday ahead of a Champions League week, Ancelotti responded: “For us, the important thing is to have enough time to recover well. If we play Sunday night and then play Wednesday night, that’s sufficient for us.”

Ancelotti on Luka Modrić

The Italian was asked about the Luka Modrić interview in which he expressed frustration at his lack of minutes. On that, Ancelotti said: “When Luka renewed, we were all happy with it, us and Luka. His role has changed over the first weeks of the season, because he only started one match, when I was giving more minutes to the youngsters, but now that the schedule is busier he’ll play more and be important. Of course I have spoken about this and am speaking about this with him. Maybe he’ll have fewer minutes than other seasons, because there are amazing players in the squad.”

Ancelotti on Bellingham

Discussing the man of the moment, Jude Bellingham, the coach said: “He’s doing really well, I’m not surprised. We knew from his games with Dortmund that he could get forward well and be dangerous. He is very focused and serious and professional. I don’t think it’ll go to his head if he is praised.”

Ancelotti on Vinícius’ injury

Providing an update on Vinícius’ recovery from injury, the coach said: “I don’t know the exact date when he’ll return. He is recovering well, but we don’t want to force it. He is little by little increasing his workload and I think next week he might be able to work with the group. I think he’ll be back before the six weeks that was predicted.”

Ancelotti on Vinícius’ The Best snub

Ancelotti was also asked about the fact that the Brazilian didn’t make The Best shortlist. To that, he had a sarcastic reply as he joked: “Yes, I saw him crying for three or four hours because he wasn’t included in this list.”

Ancelotti in his conversations with Raúl

Discussing his relationship with Raúl, who was linked with the Villarreal job during the international break, Ancelotti said: “I speak with Raúl every day. It’s normal for me to speak with the Castilla coach regularly, especially as we’ll want to use some of the Castilla players. He didn’t speak with me about his future.”

Ancelotti on the youth team investigation

Although he was asked for a comment on the youth team investigation that emerged this week, Ancelotti simply said: “I just refer to the statement released by the club. I don’t have anything to add.”