Ancelotti criticizes Real Madrid’s defense after a severe loss to Girona – Al-Ghad newspaper

Cities – The Italian coach, Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid, believes that the lack of defensive commitment is the reason for the loss (4-2) from Girona, at the “Montelevi” stadium, the day before yesterday, Tuesday, in the 31st round of La Liga.
And the Spanish newspaper Marca quoted Ancelotti: “It was a difficult night because of losing in this way. Bad game on the defensive level, and the team level was very low in all aspects. The team was nervous.”
Regarding Vinicius, he commented: “On an individual level, he was good, as he scored a goal and provided an assist. But he got a lot of bookings, and it’s not commensurate with his skills.”
Regarding Nacho’s substitution, he revealed: “The player’s change cannot be considered a punishment. The goal was to search for different properties with Camavinga. There is nothing to criticize about Nacho’s performance.
He added, “Defeat is never good, but it may be useful sometimes. This team has problems winning when they don’t have a defensive commitment, and today it happened. If the players do not understand this, I will repeat it daily.”
He concluded: “The anger of the fans is normal, and their frustration as well. But we are in the final of the King’s Cup and the semi-finals of the Champions League.”
With this defeat, Real Madrid’s balance is frozen at 65 points in the title of the La Liga table, while Girona jumped to ninth place, raising its tally to 41 points.
On the other hand, Uruguayan Federico Valverde, the star of Real Madrid, was keen to apologize to the Merengue fans, after the defeat against Girona.
According to the Marca newspaper, Valverde went to his team’s fans after the end of the match, to apologize to them and thank them for their support and assistance, and the Uruguayan star gave his shirt to a fan.
Valverde had two chances, the first from outside the area, but goalkeeper Gazzaniga shone in the save and turned it into a corner in the 6th minute of the match, before trying to reduce the difference for Real Madrid, in the 27th minute, with a powerful shot on the edge of the penalty area, which passed over the Girona goal.
In addition, the Brazilian Vinicius Junior, the Real Madrid star, mocked Javier Iglesias Vilanova, the referee of his team’s match against Girona.
The match saw Vinicius receive a yellow card in the 37th minute, due to his objection to the referee.
Vinicius fell to the ground at the touchline, and one of the Girona players deliberately kicked the ball at him.
Vinicius then complained to the match referee, who refused to count a violation in his favour, and awarded the yellow card to the Brazilian star.
After the match, Vinicius re-posted a tweet explaining the incident, and made a reference to the La Liga account, along with a laughing emoji.
Spain’s Pablo Jaffe, the Barcelona star, mocked Real Madrid’s big defeat.
Jaffe posted a picture of him laughing on “Instagram Stories”, behind him his colleagues in Barcelona laughing, with sarcastic emoji.
Javi did not refer to Real Madrid’s defeat, but the timing of the photo’s publication came a few minutes after Real Madrid’s great fall against Girona.
On the other hand, Girona coach Michel Sanchez said after the victory, “It is not just another night, it is a special night because the victory over Real Madrid are moments that everyone will remember forever.”
In statements after the match, Sanchez said: “Girona played a strong match in all respects against one of the biggest and most important opponents in the world.”
He explained, “We are on the way to staying in the First Division, after reaching point No. 40, 7 rounds before the end of the competition.”
Sanchez confirmed that his ambition is to reach point No. 53 to be the best version of Girona in the La Liga competition, and he also talked about the European Conference League championship, saying: “I hope so, but this is a dream. We must prove our feet on the ground and think about the next match.”
And he continued, “We must go to Seville to achieve a positive result that brings us closer to survival, to enjoy the remaining matches and continue to fight for improvement and growth.”
As for Valentin Castellanos, Girona striker, he confirmed that he did not imagine scoring 4 goals against Real Madrid.
Argentine Castellanos scored Girona’s four goals in the match, in the 12th, 24th, 46th and 62nd minutes.
Castellanos said, during statements reported by the Spanish newspaper “AS”, “It was a dream night. We played a great match against a great opponent, one of the best teams in the world.”
He added, “I feel happy, and I never imagined that. I enjoy with the fans, my family, and the people in Argentina who always support me.”
He added, “I scored four times before in the American League, but this league is different. It was a dream for me to score a goal against Madrid, but I did not imagine scoring 4 goals. I am very happy with the victory we desperately needed to advance up the table, we beat the best players in the world.”
On the other hand, Real Sociedad coach, Emanol Alguathil, expressed his happiness with the goalless draw at Real Betis stadium, Benito Villamarín, in the 31st round of La Liga, to keep his team in fourth place, which qualifies for the next season for the Champions League.
“I think the draw was fair, and when you don’t win, it’s important you don’t lose,” said Algoathel Ole. There is still a six-point gap – between Sociedad and Betis – and we are happy to come away with this point.
The coach explained that the “pressure” that his team exerted on the hosts at the start of the match, “his players could not maintain.”
He added, “We played an excellent first half, but we were not decisive in front of the goal. In the second half, we retreated, but with the changes, the match was equal again.”
He concluded, “We did not want a tie, but after playing the match we should evaluate the point we got. It was important to maintain this difference with Betis.”
And Sociedad is still six points away from Real Betis, who has achieved a single victory in the last five rounds of La Liga so far.
On the other hand, Real Betis coach, Manuel Pellegrini, expressed his regret at the team’s failure to get the three points from home.
The Chilean coach stated, “Maybe we lacked creativity in the first half, and we were not good at reaching the opponent’s goal, but they also did not create opportunities, but in the second half we were clearly the best, and we created clear opportunities to score, their first shot was in the 91st minute.”
Pellegrini expressed regret that his team did not come out with the three points, but praised the opponent, “They are strong in defense and do not give you opportunities to find spaces.”
On his team’s options to qualify for the Champions League next season, Pellegrini said he did not know, but he acknowledged that the issue was “complicated”.
He said, “We are in fifth place and we are fighting for the European League. The rest is just a wish. We hope to maintain our level that we presented in the second half for the rest of the season.” -(agencies)