“You have to stop nonsense and controversy about Vinicius”

The second round could not start worse for the champion, who
lost In Mallorca, one of those games that can be worth a title, showed that without Karim Benzema there is no paradise and also suffered a muscle injury to Thibaut Courtois, an all-risk insurance and his most decisive player along with the French striker.

The Belgian goalkeeper withdrew from the warm-up due to discomfort in the adductor area and is awaiting diagnostic imaging tests. It is almost impossible for him to be able to play in the Club World Cup, as Real Madrid faces Egyptian Al-Alhy on Wednesday in the Rabat semifinals, and his contest for the first round of the Champions League round of 16 against Liverpool, scheduled for on February 21 at Anfield.

To the casualties, fatigue, the strength of a tough rival, in the truest style of their coach, Vasco Aguirre, were added to Real Madrid’s debt by Nacho’s own goal in the first half and the missed penalty by Marco Asensio after the resumption, the result of a disputed penalty for the demolition of the goalkeeper Rajkovic to Vinicius.

The whites fell but they were already warned against a courageous rival who have won their last four home games 1-0, against Atlético, Valladolid, Celta and Real Madrid. No less than 29 fouls were made by the vermillions, a record for a game in this League, in a duel in which the whites committed 14 offenses and the Canarian Hernández Hernández ended up with ten yellow cards, five per side and one of them precisely to Vinicius, that he will miss the next league match against Elche at the Bernabéu.

Carlo Ancelotti’s face after the crash reflected deep discomfort. The Italian coach complained in his first analysis about so much interruption. “It was a tough defeat in a game that we expected, very tough, difficult, with many fouls, many stoppages, many falls…”, lamented the Reggiolo coach.

29 fouls by Mallorca, a record in this League

What happened to lose? Movistar insisted to the merengue coach, who suffered the third defeat of this League. “We didn’t have any luck managing the game because they scored us very early, but the team played and competed until the end and deserved to draw. When an opponent defends himself with a very low line, it is very difficult to get a ball behind his back. We tried, but the initial part is the one that determined the game”, Ancelotti reflected on this, who acknowledged that Kroos and Modric did not play from the beginning due to rotations and because they finished the previous match “a little touched”.

Nacho, author of that own goal that marked Palma’s duel, expressed himself along the same lines. “It has been very difficult against a team with a great defense, who scored a lucky goal, and then we were not fine when it came to creating chances,” analyzed the merengue youth squad. «Mallorca has not surprised us. We knew about the difficulty due to the hour, the little rest and having a very close opponent in front of us, but everything has become even more complicated when they scored. The own goal was a shame but this is football and we also missed a penalty, “he remarked.

Nacho did not hide when answering the recurring question about Vinicius, the fouls he receives and the controversy that is generated game after game around the Brazilian. «An environment is being created with the theme of Vinicius that does not favor anyone. Neither Vinicius, nor the League, nor football, nor the public that messes with him. Controversies and nonsense must be put aside », he settled.

Already at a press conference, without so much immediacy, Carletto was asked about Nacho’s reflections on what happens in the Vinicius case. And the Italian did not bite his tongue. «Everything that happens is not Vinicius’s fault. The only thing he wants is to play football and then there is an atmosphere that he provokes, rivals that push him and he needs them… You have to change the focus. We have to look at what has happened with him in this match.”