Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti revealed that his defender Raul Asencio was affected by a … [+] portion of Real Sociedad fans telling him to die during a Copa del Rey semifinal first leg tie on Wednesday.
Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti revealed that his defender Raul Asencio was affected by a portion of Real Sociedad fans telling him to die during a Copa del Rey semifinal first leg tie on Wednesday.
Los Blancos came out 1-0 winners in Anoeta thanks to an early strike from rare starter Endrick.
Approaching half time, though, play had to be halted. Post-match, Ancelotti shed light on the events which saw the referee consulting himself, his opposite La Real number Imanol Alguacil and a police officer.
Asked what he thought of the referee activating the anti-hate protocol which gave fans warnings not to sing offensive chants, Ancelotti said that he thought the match official “acted well”.
“Vinicius spoke to the referee, who stopped the game and activated the protocol. He did well. It is what he must do. I removed Asencio because he had two things: he was affected [by the chants]
and he had a yellow card.”
“Nobody likes to be yelled at ‘die’, so he was affected. I preferred to remove him, because his feelings could affect him,” the manager added.
Asencio started at right back after Ancelotti teased at his prematch press conference that Fede Valverde could again got the nod while Lucas Vazquez was the expected selection.
“Each game I will have to choose,” Ancelotti pointed out. “I liked how Asencio did tonight, [which was] well defensively. Lucas can contribute a lot, we all know that. And Valverde, he can also contribute a lot. Let’s see. What is evident is that we are very well covered.
“The fact that we kept a good clean sheet today is important. And the return of [David]
Alaba, who is picking up pace, is also great news. We’re fine. The only bad thing is [Dani] Ceballos’ injury…,” Ancelotti trailed off.
On what Ceballos offers the team, Ancelotti said: “Everyone has their own characteristics and he has very good ball handling. He has brought better possession, better handling of the ball. The rest have other characteristics, but we also have [Luka] Modric, who is similar to Ceballos in this sense. And [Jude] Bellingham, who also helps a lot in ball handling. As always, we will have to replace important players, but we will.”
Youngster Endrick took his chance to impress well, and Ancelotti remarked that the Brazilian “has the characteristics he has shown in these cup matches”.
“[He’s having] a lot of success, he is fast and still needs to improve to be better with the ball, but losing his marker and the shot he has… He could’ve scored a second goal. He’s spectacular. Very young, but he learns very quickly,” Ancelotti concluded.
