Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has sent a clear message to FIFA and UEFA over their handling of the fixture list, clearly pointing the finger at them for Los Blancos’ injuries. In a season which could include an extra 10 games for Real Madrid this year, Ancelotti requested that they act.
Once again Ancelotti is working out how to deal with fresh absences this week, after Brahim Diaz was ruled out for the next 2-3 months. Eder Militao trained alone on Monday, but Ancelotti noted that he was fine.
He was asked if they had looked for any more solutions to their injury issues, and he pointed to
“We have looked for what can be done, but it is not in our power. The schedule is too demanding. A new competition arrives and no one knows how it will turn out. It may be more entertaining, or not. But what is certain is that we have two more games.”
“If the governing bodies do not begin to think that players get injured because they play too much, we have a problem. I ask that they stop and think about reducing the number of matches, in order to have more attractive competitions.”
He was always asked whether and how he maintained the same enthusiasm for the Champions League after so many years in charge.
“The excitement is the same. For me the Champions League is very special. And the day to day, being here, talking to the players, preparing training sessions, enduring the problems that arise. I consider myself very patient… because every day there is an a problem. And many times they are not problems, but nonsense that we consider problems. As in life. I like the day to day.”
Ancelotti has been vocal on the fixture congestion in the past, but joins many of his players in Dani Carvajal, Thibaut Courtois and former player Toni Kroos in indicating that there are too many games for the players. It seems there is no other logical solution than to do so, but often money sees logic change shape, and that is what is driving the new competitions and increased number of games, or at least the belief that the two go hand-in-hand.