Ancelotti praises Piqué: "It is important to decide when to stop"

Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid's Italian coach, assured that Gerard Piqué, who will leave football this week and on Saturday played his last game with Barcelona at the Camp Nou, "has been one of the best central defenders of this era" and wished him best of luck in your future.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
06 November 2022 Sunday 08:32
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Ancelotti praises Piqué: "It is important to decide when to stop"

Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid's Italian coach, assured that Gerard Piqué, who will leave football this week and on Saturday played his last game with Barcelona at the Camp Nou, "has been one of the best central defenders of this era" and wished him best of luck in your future.

"Piqué has been very intelligent and orderly on the pitch", praised the Madrid coach about one of the great referents of the eternal rival in the last decade. Ancelotti highlighted the moment in which he has made the decision. "He has decided to stop and it is important that you decide when to do it, not that someone tells you. He has made a strong decision and I wish him the best for the future."

Regarding the match against Rayo Vallecano on Monday, Ancelotti confirmed the absence of Karim Benzema again. Both the French striker and Antonio Rüdiger were absent from Real Madrid's last training session before the visit to Vallecas, in the match that closes the thirteenth round of LaLiga Santander.

In the session in the sports city of Valdebebas he confirmed the full recovery of Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eden Hazard, although the latter will have it increasingly difficult to play. "He has a lot of competition and there are players who deserve to play more than Hazard," said the Italian.

Benzema takes a step back again due to his bad feelings. The Real Madrid captain is out again after reappearing playing the last 28 minutes of the Champions League match against Celtic at the Santiago Bernabéu. The French striker had been absent for three consecutive games from Real Madrid and tested himself during the final 28 minutes of a doomed match, with Carlo Ancelotti's team scoring goals to certify their group leadership in the pass to the round of 16, already doomed two days earlier.

Since then, Benzema has not returned to exercise with his teammates and, with the World Cup approaching, in the absence of official confirmation from the Italian coach, he will be absent again from LaLiga, a competition in which he has already missed five days.

German defender Rüdiger is also absent due to an overload in the hip that prevented him from taking the pitch on Sunday. Yes, the French Tchouaméni and the Belgian Hazard did it to exercise at the same pace as the group, recovered from tendinitis and muscular overload.

In this way, Ancelotti led a gentle training session in which he finished outlining the starting team that will line up in Vallecas, where he will be able to recover the figure of his starting midfielder, Tchouaméni, and must decide between keeping Marco Asensio as the starter, with the Brazilian Rodrygo as nine, or advance the position of the Uruguayan Fede Valverde.