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Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has criticised his players after their tough battle against Valencia at the Mestalla, which ended in a last gasp 2-1 win, to ensure they stayed in first place on the La Liga points table ahead of Atletico Madrid. The 65-year-old remarked that his players were “tremendously bad” in the first half, but they made up for it with “tremendously good” second half after Vinicius Jr received a straight red card.
Notably, Hugo Duro gave Valencia the lead in the 27th minute of the first half, and they managed to keep their advantage intact well into the second half. Following the red card to Vinicius Jr for pushing Valencia goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski in the head and neck, it seemed as if the hosts would take valuable three points from the game, to give a boost to their survival hopes, but it wasn’t to be.
Tremendously bad in the first half, tremendously good in the second with 10 men: Carlo Ancelotti
Luka Modric levelled the score for Real Madrid at 1-1, giving the league leaders much needed hope to push for the winner, which came in the second half injury time. Jude Bellingham, who had missed a penalty earlier in the second half, scored the winner in the 95th minute, to steal a victory from the jaws of defeat, and it ensured that Real Madrid stayed ahead of city rivals Atletico Madrid at the top of the La Liga standings.
In the post-match interview, Carlo Ancelotti was critical about the performance of Real Madrid players either side of the half against Valencia at the Mestalla. He was quoted as saying, as per Sportstar, “It’s difficult to explain how bad we were in the first half and how good we were in the second, and with a man down We deserved three points, but we can’t show these two sides. Tremendously bad in the first half, tremendously good in the second with 10 men.”
Moreover, Barcelona are currently in third place in the La Liga standings with 38 points in 19 matches, five behind Real Madrid and three behind Atletico Madrid.
