Real Madrid News
Ancelotti faces a four-match ban after comments against referee over Girona penalty – report
Real Madrid’s excellent start to the league season took a hit when the reigning Spanish champions were held to a 1-1 draw by Girona.
Although the result was enough to see them get back to the top of the league table, they are now leading Barcelona only by a point.
The biggest point of contention of the match saw Marco Asensio being penalised in the 78th minute for handling the ball inside the penalty area. Girona subsequently were awarded a spot-kick, with Cristhian Stuani making no mistake in converting the opportunity.
However, Real Madrid members and staff were not happy with the situation and felt Asensio was wrongly penalised. This saw Carlo Ancelotti fuming, with the Real Madrid coach deeming the penalty as a product of referee’s invention.
But according to Diario AS, Ancelotti is facing the risk of being sanctioned for the terminology he used to refute the referee’s decision to award Real Madrid a penalty late into the game.
The report suggests Ancelotti’s words have been reported to the Competition Committee by RFEF’s Integrity Committee. They will hold a meeting in order to decide whether or not the Italian should be sanctioned.
Valencia starlet Jose Gaya was banned for a similar offence last season when the left-back directed words to a referee at a league game. He was subsequently given a four-match banned at the start of the season.
Ancelotti is facing the same situation and could be sanctioned with a similar ban, which, in turn, could be a blow for Real Madrid as they brace themselves for a crucial phase of the campaign.
In what could be a real deal breaker for Real Madrid ahead of their Copa del Rey semi-final second leg clash against Barcelona, it has been revealed that as many as three Barça will be absent from the game while another key player remains a major doubt.
The list includes the likes of Pedri, Ousmane Dembele and Andreas Christensen. The trio is certain to miss the game through respective injuries while a certain Frenkie de Jong is more or less ruled out, as per Javi Miguel.
It must be remembered that Barcelona are heading into the second leg with a 1-0 advantage. But the absence of the aforementioned players means Madrid can work on exploiting the frailties.
Despite the absence of such big names, Barcelona did pretty well against Elche in their previous outing, coming out 4-0 victorious, with the goals coming from Robert Lewandowski, Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres.
With options lacking in midfield, Xavi decided to use the likes of Sergi Roberto and Eric Garcia along with Gavi in the heart of the lineup. In any way, they do have Sergio Busquets and Franck Kessie as backups if needed.
The defence, on the other hand, was perfectly guarded by Jordi Alba, Marcos Alonso, Ronald Araujo and Jules Kounde.
One can expect Xavi to once again interchange Araujo with Kounde on the right since the Uruguayan has been rather successful in minimizing the threat of Vinicius Jr.
As far as Madrid are concerned, they are sweating over the fitness of three key defenders, namely, Antonio Rudiger, Nacho, and Ferland Mendy. Between these three, the Frenchman is out for about a month while Rudiger and Nacho are expected to be back before the Clasico.
If there are no casualties against Real Valladolid, Madrid will have a perfect midfield and attack, with only Mariano Diaz missing.
