Real Madrid News
Ancelotti and Benzema speak following double swoop at UEFA awards
The UEFA Champions League draw sees defending champions Real Madrid pitted against relatively easy opposition in Group F. Shakhtar Donetsk, RB Leipzig and Celtic are the teams that constitute Los Blancos‘ group as decided in the draw conducted in Istanbul.
As a part of the same event, UEFA also awarded its various awards for the previous season to acknowledge the individuals who excelled on various fronts. Needless to say, Real Madrid was well represented on the podium.
Karim Benzema was officially declared the UEFA Player of the Year after a spectacular season where he led his team to the UCL title almost single-handedly.
The Frenchman expressed his gratitude to the club and manager amongst others and shared his thoughts on why he had a phenomenal run last year.
“I would like to thank my teammates, my coach and the president. Without the president of Real Madrid and Ancelotti, I would not have won this award. We at Real Madrid do not know how to give up, we fight for everything until the last moment,” he said, as quoted by RM4Arab.
He had only praise for his manager Carlo Ancelotti and said it was his fortune to work under the Italian.
“Ancelotti, in my opinion, is the best coach in the world. I’m very fortunate to play under Ancelotti and I hope he stays at Real Madrid for as long as possible.”
Ancelotti, too, had an honour to his name as he picked up the UEFA Best Men’s Coach award. The Real Madrid coach conveyed his gratitude while collecting the award as follows,
“Thank you to UEFA for this award. What a night! It has been an incredible season. I want to thank Sachi, my teacher. I would like to thank the players, the clubs, the fans, my family, the staff and the president. I want to thank everyone for this award.”
Then, the coach spoke about what made his team special and separated them from other elite European sides.
“I have a crazy passion for this sport. The quality of our players has been great last season. There was a great relationship and bonding with the experienced and young players and this helped us a lot as we reached and achieved the desired goal. The fans helped us a lot and were a key factor in our success.”
Finally, Ancelotti gave his view on Karim Benzema’s imperious form last year which made him the favourite to pick up the best player award.
Real Madrid prospect Alexis Ciria will have to wait for his Champions League opportunity despite making a strong impression on Jose Mourinho during pre-season.
The Castilla winger has been left out of Real Madrid’s European squad, but the decision is the consequence of UEFA registration rules rather than a sporting judgment.
According to journalist Arancha Rodriguez (h/t Defensa Central), Ciria was not eligible for Madrid’s List B because he has not been with the club long enough to satisfy UEFA’s requirements.
Registering him would therefore have required Mourinho to include him on the more restrictive List A.
UEFA rules work against Ciria
List B provides clubs with additional flexibility to register young academy players, but being young enough is not sufficient on its own.
Players must also meet requirements concerning how long they have been eligible to represent the club.
Ciria does not meet those conditions because of his limited time at Valdebebas. Real Madrid would therefore have needed to sacrifice a List A position to register him.
With those places required for members of Mourinho’s senior squad, Ciria was ultimately left out.
Real Madrid’s List B instead includes youngsters such as Joan Martinez, Mario Rivas, Thiago Pitarch, Jorge Cestero and Daniel Yanez.
Many of these youngsters made a name for themselves under Mourinho during pre-season and could be used to make up the numbers in the Champions League squad.
They could also get some minutes off the bench, especially against relatively easier opposition, as Jose Mourinho looks to manage first-team minutes.
Mourinho still plans first-team opportunity
Importantly for Ciria, missing the Champions League squad does not appear to reflect a change in Mourinho’s opinion of him.
The youngster impressed during pre-season and is expected to continue spending time around the senior team.
Mourinho intends to give Ciria his official first-team debut during the season. That opportunity will now have to arrive in La Liga or the Copa del Rey.
The Portuguese tactician placed a lot of emphasis on trusting Castilla players during pre-season in the absence of first-team stars.
Ciria was one of the many names who made a name for themselves at Real Madrid during pre-season. He deserves a chance in the first team, and it remains to be seen how Jose plans his development.
