Ancelotti: "Everyone considers Real Madrid dead, but we will never give up"

   MADRID, 18 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Real Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti, acknowledged this Wednesday that the team is going through a "complicated period" from which they hope to get out "soon", even though "everyone considers them dead", for which reason he insisted that "never" they will give up and the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey are "an opportunity".

"It's an opportunity to get out of this difficult moment soon, but it usually happens in a season. It's a complicated game, but we have the desire and motivation to get out soon, we consider it an opportunity," the Italian stressed at the press conference prior to the match round of 16 against Villarreal this Thursday (9:00 p.m.).

In a month of January in which the white team has added victories against Cacereño in the Cup and Valencia in the Spanish Super Cup and defeats against Villarreal in the League and Barça in Arabia, Ancelotti asked to "hold on". "It is difficult to always have a high level of condition, but the injuries were not foreseeable, like those of Tchouameni, Alaba, Lucas. This has affected us a little more. That we were not at our best now was normal, that January would be complicated was foreseeable ", he admitted.

"Everybody thinks Real Madrid is dead, but we hope to leave tomorrow. We have to be calm and confident, the season is very long. We are in a difficult period, but we are never going to give up and we are going to get out of this. I don't know when, but we hope it will be tomorrow. It won't be too late", the Italian wished.

The coach pointed out that the similarities with their second season in the first stage, in 2015, in which they also suffered an irreversible downturn, are just "chance". And he denied that they are now living an end of the cycle. "We are a young team, players who have marked an era at the club are reaching the end of their careers and others are entering. It is a moment of transition from a fantastic time. When Benzema, Modric and Kroos stop playing, there are others who will take command is not the end, it is the beginning of a cycle," he stressed.

Given this, Ancelotti stressed that "the recipe" to get out of the rut is "to have confidence in a team that until November has done very well." In addition, he explained that his role in this difficult moment "is not that complicated." "You have to carefully assess what is happening, be objective and make things as simple as possible. In football, the easiest thing to do is defend well," he concluded.

Regarding proper names in recent weeks, he stated that Kroos "has done very well in all the games", given his "good physical condition". "But Modric is different, his condition is not optimal, but little by little he will contribute this season," he said, before insisting that he has "a lot of confidence" in Camavinga and acknowledged that "it has not always" been "fair with him ".

About this Thursday's match against Villarreal, with the future in the Cup at stake, Ancelotti revealed that "Thibaut Courtois and Karim Benzema will play", as well as the young Brazilian Vinicius Tobias could have a chance. "We have Carvajal and Lucas out. Odriozola is back from an injury, so he can play tomorrow," he explained.

Finally, the Italian defended the work of Real Madrid in their youth academy. "There are players who progress very well and will be important in the future. Each era has its moment. The 2004 players we have are very good and they will soon be useful for the first team," he concluded, when asked about the level of two footballers youngsters at FC Barcelona, ​​Pedri and Gavi.