Ancelotti: “Vinícius will play from the start at Girona”

Real Madrid pay a visit to the surprise league leaders Girona this weekend, and Carlo Ancelotti previewed that game as so: “We’re ready for this huge match, against the team that leads the league. The table says that Girona have been better than us, than Barcelona and than Atlético over the first matchdays. They can compete to stay near the top, especially as they don’t have European commitments, which is the biggest problem right now for the big clubs. We’ll have to be at our best. We’ve recovered well and Rüdiger is fine, as his issue was nothing serious. Alaba is out, but we hope he’ll be back for next Tuesday. We’ll need good balance, to defend well and to show our quality in attack. We didn’t have a good night there last year, but tomorrow it won’t be the same. We went there last season when the title race was over for us and we had other objectives.”

Ancelotti on Girona winger Sávio

Asked about Sávio, who has really stood out for Girona over the start of the season, the Italian said: “It’s true that he’s doing well, so congratulations to him. How do we stop him? We have the resources and experience and quality to stop anyone.”

Ancelotti on Vinícius’ fitness

On the return of Vinícius, who played the final half hour against Las Palmas, Ancelotti said: “Vinícius is doing well and will play from the start, but then we’ll see how many minutes he can last. I think he could last the 90 minutes. It depends on how he plays. I’ve told him to look after himself. The other night, he had a few sprints at a very high intensity and I told him to be careful with that. I could play 90 minutes if I didn’t have to run! But, seriously, he’s doing very well and will help us. We’re not going to change the system, although we’ll tweak some things like we do with every game.”

Ancelotti on the full-backs

Discussing the role of the full-backs, he said: “We worked a lot with the full-backs during pre-season, and asked them to play further forward. They need to help provide width in this new system. They really had to help us more in attack when we were without the best winger in the world, who is Vinícius. They’ve done well, and we’ve scored from many crosses.”

Ancelotti on Rodrygo’s goal drought

Discussing Rodrygo, the coach hinted that the Brazilian could be rested against Girona. He said:“He hasn’t scored as many goals as people thought, but he has contributed a lot. He has played a lot of minutes, so maybe some rest could help him.”

Ancelotti on the latest Negreira developments

Following the latest developments in the Negreira case, Ancelotti was asked for his thoughts and simply said: “I’m concerned, just like everyone is concerned. It’s a very serious issue. That said, the justice system is working on it and we have to let them deal with it. I hope they can reach a solution.”