Real Madrid News
Ancelotti talks Militao, Rudiger, Asensio, Benzema, Vinicius after Real Betis 0-0 Real Madrid
Real Madrid stumbled to a third consecutive winless outing against Real Betis in La Liga on Sunday night, moving further away from league leaders Barcelona in the process.
Real Madrid created chances aplenty and had a xG of 1.21 on the night, yet, could not find the back of the net. Karim Benzema did open the scoring with a perfect free-kick but the goal was disallowed for a handball by Antonio Rudiger.
Real Madrid just have not clicked since their day out at Anfield and there are now doubts creeping in about the team’s form.
Carlo Ancelotti addressed this, and other specific points of the game when he talked to the press at Benito Villamarin. Madrid Universal brings you the snippets from the Italian’s media session.
On the performance at Benito Villamarin: “It was an open game and that’s how we wanted it to be. We lacked effectiveness up front. In the end, in the last thirty minutes, we created more chances, but at the moment we lack efficiency. We make one more pass than we should, too many one-twos.”
On the missed chances: “Today we could’ve scored because we had three or four clear chances, but in the last three games the statistic is self-evident: we’ve only scored one goal.”
On the defence: “We’re very good at the back, but there is a lack of balance. Militão and Rüdiger were outstanding in defence. That’s how I see the tie.”
On the Merengues’ recent struggles: “We try to dribble when we shouldn’t or pass when we should be shooting at goal. It’s a collective problem of individual decisions.”
On Real Madrid’s scarcity of goals: “I’m upset more than angry. It’s not normal that a team with this much quality didn’t score more than one goal in the last three games. The players are also disappointed because we’ve got the quality to score and we’ve always done it. We need to be more clinical.”
On the La Liga title race: “I don’t think the league is over. It’s a big lead, nine points, but we have to fight until the end. I don’t know what will happen, but we’ve still got a lot of games to play. One thing that is evident is that we have to do better.”
On the mentality of the squad: “The make-up of the squad appears normal to me. This squad scored five goals at Anfield.”
On not using Marco Asensio: “I had Rodrygo, Karim and Vini Jr on. Rodrygo, I thought, was playing well and Karim and Vini jr. can always pop up with something. I thought I could find a solution without him.”
Source: Real Madrid official website
According to AS, Atletico Madrid have made the first approach for Celta Vigo midfielder Gabri Veiga, who has also been linked heavily with a move to Real Madrid and Arsenal.
The 20-year-old midfielder has emerged as one of the most exciting young prospects in Spanish football this season, having already netted nine goals in La Liga.
It has alerted a series of top-level clubs, with the likes of Real Madrid, Arsenal, Liverpool and Atletico Madrid all being linked with the youngster, who has a €40 million release clause in his contract with Celta.
Real Madrid are in the market for midfield reinforcements and have identified Jude Bellingham as their top target, but Veiga is also said to be on the agenda at the Santiago Bernabeu
However, recently, the Galician club’s president confirmed that there had been contact from clubs in England, but stated that Real Madrid had made no approach.
On top of that, a report from MARCA quoted a club source saying that they were not contemplating signing the 20-year-old.
Amidst this, it has now emerged that Atletico Madrid have made an approach towards signing Veiga from Celta Vigo in the summer transfer window.
The Rojiblancos are also in the market for new midfielders amid question marks over the futures of Saul Niguez and Geoffrey Kondogbia.
While Diego Simeone’s side have taken a first step, the report indicates that Veiga, in case of the absence of interest from Real Madrid, would prefer to join Arsenal.
So, the Colchoneros will need to put in efforts to convince the 20-year-old to choose them over a move to the Premier League club come summer if they are serious about adding the talented youngster to their roster for next season.
