Carlo Ancelotti ahead of El Clasico – ‘The idea is not to score goals, but to play a complete game’

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has asked his players ‘not to go crazy’ ahead of their return leg against Barcelona on Wednesday night. Los Blancos are 1-0 down on aggregate in their Copa del Rey semi-final, and must snap a run of three straight El Clasico defeats at Camp Nou.

Real Madrid have struggled to break down the Barcelona defence since January, with Ronald Araujo moving to right-back to shut down Vinicius Junior. While they have scored twice in those three matches, one was an own goal via deflection, and the other came at 3-0 down.

Nevertheless, Ancelotti has told the press that they must maintain their composure.

“The idea is not to go crazy to score a goal. The idea is to play a complete match with and without the ball. We haven’t managed to get to the goal on many occasions and it’s an important aspect. We’re not going to go crazy… because you can score a goal in the minute 5 and then concede two. Or you can score in the 90th minute. The idea is to play a complete game.”

That would follow the recent pattern for Ancelotti, who only threw on attackers for the final 20-30 minutes against Barcelona in their La Liga clash in March. While Real Madrid came much closer to the winner in that game, they also conceded the draw in stoppage time.