Ancelotti: Real Madrid played with fire against Al-Ahly

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was not happy with his team’s performance during the 4-1 victory over Al-Ahly of Egypt in the Club World Cup semi-finals yesterday, and said that the European champion played with fire in a match that he should have decided early. And after Vinicius Junior and Federico Valverde scored before and after the break, Real missed many opportunities to widen the difference, while Al-Ahly succeeded in scoring from a penalty kick executed by Ali Maaloul.

Ancelotti told a news conference, “When we went 2-0 up (at the start of the second half), we thought the match was over and dribbling increased. The team relaxed and that should not happen. In this tournament, Real has a lot to lose and nothing to gain.” Mohamed Magdy (Qafsha) missed the chance to equalize for Al-Ahly, to put the Spanish giants in danger.

Despite Luka Modric missing a penalty three minutes from time, Rodrygo and substitute Arribas secured a comfortable victory in stoppage time. The Italian coach added, “We did not win easily, but we won in a good way. We must play well while maintaining focus until the end of the match. We faced a few difficult minutes, until Modric’s penalty.”

Real will play against Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia in the final in Rabat on Saturday, after the Asian champions stunned their Brazilian rival Flamengo 3-2 in the semi-final. Ancelotti confirmed that striker Karim Benzema and defender Eder Militao joined the team today, Thursday, after they were absent from yesterday’s meeting, to continue treatment in Madrid, and they could play the final.
He explained, “Neither of them has fully recovered. Karim (Benzema) is in good condition, while there are greater doubts about Militao. We will make decisions on Friday. (Dani) Carvajal (from the Al-Ahly match) missed due to a fever and (Marco) Asensio due to muscle overload and I think that The duo is ready for the Al-Hilal match.