New Delhi, Aug 23 (IANS): Real Madrid’s opening La Liga game was considered to be a cause for concern for Carlo Ancelotti as there was an overcrowding in the left flank which resulted in their attacks not materialising. However, the Italian head coach has said he’s not even going to talk about playing off the right.
“Playing more on the left? The presence of Vinicius makes us play there more because of his quality. Benzema also wanted to play in the centre-left area and Bellingham too. It's worked out very well to play on the left and that's why I'm not going to talk about playing on the other side when we've won two Champions Leagues doing that,” said Carlo Ancelotti to reporters at the pre-match press conference.
Real Madrid’s front three of Vinicius Jr, Kylian Mbappe and Rodrygo consists of three forwards, all of whom are known to be natural left-wingers. The constant swapping between the front three is something we have seen many times in recent years. The overcrowding of the flank does give the team a better opportunity to link up and cause chaos in the final third but can also become static if the team does not find the correct balance to it.
All eyes will once again be on Mbappe who will be playing his first game for the Los Blancos at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday when they host Real Valladolid CF. Despite a rocky start to his La Liga career which saw Madrid drop points in a 1-1 draw against Mallorca on the opening weekend, Ancelotti insisted the fans will enjoy it
“This Sunday is going to be very nice and good for Mbappe, he's going to play a great game, and the fans are going to really enjoy it,” he added.