The Real Madrid coach opened up before facing Barcelona in the Copa del Rey semi-final second leg and explains the difficult choices he faces.
By Le Figaro with AFP
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Charles Ancelottithe coach of Real Madridconfessed on Tuesday his difficulties in choosing a starting lineup for the King’s Cup semi-final second leg against FC Barcelona Wednesday (9 p.m.), a headache especially in the midfield, between Aurélien Tchouaméni, Eduardo Camavinga, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.
«The most difficult thing is to choose. Always. The footballer’s mentality is not going to change, they all want to start the match. But it’s very difficult to choose a starting XI, because obviously there are more than 11 players who deserve to be in it.“, explained Ancelotti.
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«Unstoppable players, there are plenty»
«Tchouaméni brings a lot on the defensive plan, on the passes, the pressing… But Camavinga has important qualities, it’s hard to press him. He made the most of his moment, he played a few matches as left back, pivot, and Aurélien had a little more trouble coming back from the World Cup. But now, Aurélien is very well, he has returned to his best level“, assured the Italian technician, still undecided.
«Unstoppable players, there are plenty here. But afterwards, you have to make an eleven. Modric was untouchable against Valladolid, but he spent the game on the bench. You also have to think about the resources you have on the bench, which can turn out to be important, like last year.“, he added. However, the technician assured that he was not going to change his device.
«The energy, the intensity, these are important characteristics in this kind of match, but the fact of taking care of our ball exits is also important, as the experience of former players, who are used to these matches at high tension. Energy will be an important aspect of the game, but it won’t be the only one», to have you «Carletto».
«For me, the classico is and always will be the most important game. We are very close to the final, so we will do everything we can to play it. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to try to score like crazy. The idea is to make a complete match. Because if we score in the fifth minute but we take two behind, it will be useless“, concluded Ancelotti. For this match, Real will recover Antonio Rüdiger, recovered from knee pain. “He trained this (Tuesday) morning, he is ready to play“, reassured Ancelotti.