Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti will make some interesting changes to the starting line up … [+]
Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti will make six interesting changes to the starting line up when it comes to hosting Celta Vigo in the Copa del Rey last 16 on Thursday.
Ancelotti is back under fire after the 5-2 Spanish Super Cup final loss to bitter rivals FC Barcelona at the weekend.
He slammed his team for not playing soccer in the first half and defending poorly, and on Tuesday the fall out and postmortem continued as Ancelotti was called to a “urgent” meeting with the club’s CEO and held a cagey press conference with the media to preview the Celta Vigo tie.
“I have one thing to clarify. This is a press conference and not a debate, I do the debate with the coaching staff and my players. Opening a debate here does not seem to me to be the most appropriate place,” he first said, ahead of discussing a lack of commitment.
“The word commitment is used many times, because it is such an important aspect of the game. Added to the quality is what makes you successful. We lacked commitment from all of us together, because the most important thing is to put individual commitment together, that’s what happened to us in the match against Barcelona,” Ancelotti stated.
“The evaluation of the match was that it was a bad game defensively in all lines, and there’s nothing more to add,” he also said.
At the same sitdown, Ancelotti confirmed that Andriy Lunin will be the goalkeeper and not Thibaut Courtois as part of his first major alteration.
Fran Garcia comes in for Ferland Mendy at left back, while Raul Asencio replaces Aurelien Tchouameni to partner Toni Rudiger at the same time right back Lucas Vazquez keeps his spot.
With Eduardo Camavinga, Fede Valverde and Jude Bellingham all axed, we see a different midfield three of Dani Ceballos, Aurelien Tchouameni and Luka Modric.
While Vinicius Jr. is on the left wing, Rodrygo is axed on the right for Brahim Diaz to enter the fold.
Scoring inside five minutes against Barca, Mbappe was one of few bright notes for Madrid in El Clasico, and is once again the central number 9 hoping to help his team guarantee qualification for the Copa del Rey quarterfinals.
