Coach Ancelotti does not care about FIFA The Best
"We are not too bothered about these individual awards. I can't say who I want to vote for because of a conflict of interest, but of course they will be Real players," Ancelotti said on 1. /3 in the press conference before the semi-final first leg of the King's Cup with Barca.
Ancelotti, striker Karim Benzema and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois were included in the shortlist for FIFA The Best 2022 categories, but Real did not send players and coaches to the awards ceremony on the evening of February 27 in Paris, France. According to Spanish newspaper Marca, the main reason is that the Bernabeu owner knows their members will not accept the award. They are also said to want to focus on preparing for the match against Barca.
At the awards Gala, the victories in important categories belonged to the members of the World Cup 2022 champion Argentina. In which, Lionel Scaloni, Lionel Messi, Emiliano Martinez received the best male coach of the year, the best male player of the year and the best male goalkeeper award respectively.
According to Ancelotti, the performance at the 2022 World Cup greatly influenced the voting at The Best, so the members of Argentina were honored as "normal". The 63-year-old coach also sent his best wishes to Messi, Martinez and colleague Scaloni.
The biggest controversy of The Best 2022 result is that Benzema is behind his compatriots Kylian Mbappe and Messi in the selection of the best male player. After the award ceremony, the French striker hinted at FIFA's "lies", and posted on Instagram his individual achievements and collective titles won in 2022.
Ancelotti declined to comment because he had not seen Benzema's post. However, the Italian coach praised his students for making a great contribution to helping Real win the Champions League, La Liga, win the Spanish Super Cup, the European Super Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup, and hope the 35-year-old striker continues the circuit. flourish this season.
Real lagged and lost to Barca 1-3 in the last El Clasico match in the Spanish Super Cup final in January 2023. Ancelotti admitted Real lacked many things and made many individual errors in this match, so they must perfect both attack and defense when rematching at the Bernabeu today. He emphasized that Real need to win a favorable result to take advantage before the second leg at Camp Nou on April 5.
According to Ancelotti, this is the most important period of the season with the most exciting and intense matches. He admitted to underestimate the King's Cup in the early rounds, but the tournament became very important when Real reached the semi-finals. "We want to win to get closer to the title, not for any form of revenge for the Super Cup final," Ancelotti added.
In the final of the Spanish Super Cup, centre-back Ronald Araujo was pushed to the right-back and well controlled Vinicius - Real's left-winger - and Jules Kounde joined the center-back with Andreas Christensen. When asked about this confrontation, Ancelotti replied: "It is normal for Real to rely a lot on Vinicius, because he is one of the best players in the world. Araujo is a quality defender and it will be a contest. interesting. Of course, I want Vinicius to win that duel."
