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 on Wednesday, 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.
“When we went 2-0 up (at the start of the second half) we thought the game was over and the dribbling increased. The team relaxed and that shouldn’t happen,” Ancelotti told a news conference.
“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.
“We didn’t win easily, but we won in a good way.
“We have to play well while remaining focused until the end of the match. We faced a difficult few minutes, until Modric’s penalty kick.”
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 can play the final.
He explained, “Neither of them has fully recovered, Karim (Benzema) is in good condition, while there are more 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 the two are ready for the Al-Hilal match.”
