Without time to reflect too much on what happened last Tuesday against Manchester City, Real Madrid visits Mallorca tomorrow (6:30 p.m.) with the intention of continuing to climb to the top of the standings. Carlo Ancelotti describes this match as “key to winning the League” and defends Bellingham's performance after receiving the first criticism.
“The priority is tomorrow, not Manchester,” began the Italian coach, who is aware that tomorrow is “a key match to win the League,” even though next Wednesday they will be playing for a place in the Champions League semi-final. League. "I don't think Mallorca will be affected by the Cup final. It will be a difficult match, competitive, fought, against a rival with an extraordinary collective attitude. It will be intense. We will try to match what the rival does very well: commitment," he developed.
After last Tuesday's game, Jude Bellingham received the first criticism since his arrival in Madrid. Asked about the Briton's form, Ancelotti rejected the criticism and referred to the goals as the only thing he has changed. "What has gone down is his scoring rate, but he had 20 goals, that was precisely the surprise. Now he does his interior work, but in terms of football he is very good. His performance has not gone down, he is not missing anything, only the goals, which sooner or later will return," he defended. In this regard, he called attention to criticizing great players like Haaland, Mbappé or Bellingham himself. "Be careful that they are not well. It may be that they did not give their best versions in the first leg, but now other games are coming up and... be careful. Be careful with the three you mentioned. Careful".
The draw against Manchester City has been a bucket of cold water for the environment, but Ancelotti, who was already satisfied after the match, said he accepted all the criticism, because football “does not respond to objective criteria, everyone can give their opinion. ”. “The bad thing is that there is no ‘exam’ as such. Look, if I take a medical exam, they will tell me 'he comes back in September', but in football it doesn't happen like that, anyone can give their opinion," he explained.
Finally, in addition to arguing that the team's physical data has been good these days, he defended the possibility of Rodrigo playing again on the left wing, which moves Vinícius to the forward position. "What we did against City is an option. Vini is very humble and understood that it is the best for the team. I spoke with both of them and they understood it," he concluded.
