Izuchukwu OkosiFollowing Real Madrid’s 2-1 defeat to Villarreal on Saturday evening, Carlo Ancelotti addressed the loss in his post-match press conference and admitted that the Yellow Submarine were the better side and deserved to win.
The Italian stated: “I think it was an even and competitive game, but Villarreal were better than us. So, they deserved to win. It wasn’t a good game from us, especially defensively.
“We didn’t defend well, we weren’t compact, they could play many balls between the lines and we were too open when in low block. The back four and the midfield struggled.
“We were dangerous in some aspects, but we didn’t have as much control as we usually do. We need to work hard to solve these problems.”
Ancelotti on the team’s physical condition
The coach dismissed the notion that the World Cup fatigue was a reason for this defeat, stating: “I think the team is quite fresh. We gave some rest to those who had played the full match the other day. I don’t think today was a physical problem, because you could see that we pushed really hard towards the end.”
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Ancelotti on picking Militão at right-back
With Dani Carvajal out, Lucas Vázquez was expected to start at right-back, but Éder Militão was chosen instead. Asked to explain this decision,
Ancelotti said: “We decided that because we didn’t want to start Lucas again after he’d played the whole game vs Cacereño. He was a little tired. We put Militão, who did well at right-back with Brazil at the World Cup. The problem wasn’t him, it was the team in general.”
Ancelotti on how the handball rule is changing football
Discussing the two penalties, the Italian said that both were indeed spot kicks, but that football has been altered by the way the handball rule is implemented through VAR. He said:
“Football has changed. There are clear rules about handballs and when it hits the arm when it’s not near the body then it’s a penalty. It doesn’t matter if it’s from a slip.
“Both calls were correct, but I don’t think football fans want to see penalties like this. The referees have to respect these rules, though. I’m not going to say ‘it’s not football’ again, like I did in the last press conference and which caused a storm!”
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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