Carlo Ancelotti says Real Madrid performance is not up for ‘debate’

Real Madrid’s manager Carlo Ancelotti has said that the club’s performance is not up for debate. The Los Blancos suffered a 5-2 loss against arch-rivals Barcelona in the Spanish Supercopa final on Sunday.

Earlier in the season, Madrid suffered a 4-0 thrashing against the Catalan club and the Spanish giants are receiving criticism for their mundane performance. Ancelotti’s team is currently in second place in La Liga with 43 points from 19 games after 13 wins, four draws, and two losses.

Speaking ahead of Thursday’s Copa del Rey round of 16 home game against Celta Vigo, Ancelotti said: “This is a press conference and not a debate. I’ve already done the debate with my technical staff and my players to find the best solutions possible.

“I don’t think this is the right place to open a debate. I don’t follow the wave of criticism, that one day you are the best and the next your are the dumbest. Fortunately, thanks to my experience, I have balance. I don’t think I’m the best but I don’t think I’m the dumbest, either.”

Madrid is still in race in the Champions League and Copa del Rey and the Italian manager said there is no need to overreact.

“It was a step back but we have to look ahead because we are still in a good position in every competition,” he said. “It hurt us a lot but it didn’t sink us.

“Obviously it was a bad game, we made a ton of mistakes. We analysed it, evaluated it and found solutions. A month ago we won the [FIFA] Club world Cup and six months ago we won the Champions League.

“We are competing. We lost one game, it was a final, it hurt but we’ve won many finals. It was a heavy loss but it was just one game. We are doing well in every competition and we are going to continue fighting.”

Real Madrid will next take on Celta Vigo in the third round of Copa del Rey on Thursday.