Carlo Ancelotti has revealed he will play his best Real Madrid XI against Malaga on Saturday despite the Champions League quarter-final second leg to come.
Madrid host Malaga only days before the return game against Atletico Madrid, with the score at 0-0 from the first meeting this week.
Ancelotti has spoken at length to radio show Tiempo Extra and discussed a number of topics, including Iker Casillas, his own future and Madrid’s injury problems.
Talk turned to the League, where Ancelotti admitted Madrid need Barcelona to drop points and suggested he wasn’t willing to write off the title and concentrate on Europe.
“We rely on Barcelona. We have to think that Malaga played well against Atletico and won at Camp Nou,” the Italian noted, AS reports.
“It’s normal if this Saturday the team thinks about Wednesday [when Atletico visit Santiago Bernabeu]. It’s more difficult to prepare for the game on Saturday than the one on Wednesday.
“I won’t rotate. The team will be the best possible one.
“The 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 debate doesn’t bother me. The fact is the system is only the placement of players on the field.
“We never have four defenders when we attack, we only have two. The two full-backs are much further forward.
“That means we don’t attack with 4-3-3 but with 2-5-3. You see the system in the defensive phase.
“I believe we came to the end of the year in very good shape. We won the Club World Cup and we had 22 straight wins.
“After the holidays, in January, we didn’t have a lot of games after we were knocked out of the Copa del Rey. This team is used to play every three days and that caused problems.”
