MADRID, May 5. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Real Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti, stressed this Friday that with the Copa del Rey title “a very beautiful circle of winning everything that was possible to win in two seasons can be closed”, for which his pupils will have to beat CA Osasuna this Saturday (10:00 p.m.) at the La Cartuja Stadium.
“We are focused on tomorrow’s game, we can close a very nice circle of winning in two seasons everything that was possible to win. Luck allows us to take advantage of this moment and now this circle can be closed”, Ancelotti insisted in the press conference from the Seville stadium.
“Playing in a final is always very exciting. I always think before a final, personally, that it could be the last. I thought about it in 2003, and it wasn’t the last, and I think about it today. It could be the last, so enjoy it” , the merengue coach has confessed.
“I ask the players the same: enjoy this moment because they are special matches. We prepare them with all the desire, with all the enthusiasm in the world, very happy to be here, very happy. We have achieved this final with merits, winning very complicated”, has valued Ancelotti.
In addition, the Madrid coach has commented that his pupils will go out to La Cartuja “without thinking about what happens the day after”, thus avoiding talking about the imminent semi-finals of the Champions League against Manchester City. “We came out with all the energy in the world to win another title. And the players think the same, they are very motivated. Preparing for these types of matches, which are very demanding, with this squad is quite simple,” he added.
Regarding the participation during the final of the Croatian midfielder Luka Modric, still limping from his injury, the Italian coach has admitted being “a doubt that we have”. “Yesterday he trained very well, without problems. Today he will do it again. Later, together with him, we will evaluate the case of starting him. If he is not comfortable, he will not play. We will see him after training “, he pointed out.
“I’m not risking my life, my life is fine,” he replied about what is at stake this Saturday apart from the cupbearer title. “I’m only playing the final of the Copa del Rey and the semifinals of the Champions League, nothing more,” he reiterated calmly. “As I have already said, my future is very clear. My contract ends on June 30, 2024, not tomorrow,” he said. “I have extraordinary affection every day with the president and with José Ángel (Sánchez), for my part this is enough,” he added.
Ancelotti has also expressed his opinion about the large number of red cards that the referees are showing this season in all competitions. “There are too many. It is true that the red ones protect the health of the player, but sometimes a lot of red ones are wrong,” he asserted in this regard.
“So, we don’t think at all about what could happen tomorrow on the field. We think that it will be a correct match, even and competitive, against a very strong rival, who deserves to be in the final like us, and that each one does what his”, he assured regarding a duel that is predicted to be tense against Osasuna.
“They are games that they have been thinking about playing for a long time, so the motivation comes without problems,” he assessed. “Choosing players for a final is always quite complicated. We’ve gotten this far not only because of 11, but because of the commitment of many,” she stressed.
Lastly, Ancelotti recalled “as a key moment” the comeback against Villarreal in the round of 16 (2-3), “where two players who hadn’t played from the beginning -alluding to Asensio and Ceballos- gave the team a boost to get through the playoffs.”