Ancelotti: It was a good match

[COPE] What was the team missing to get 3 points?
[przerywa przed drugim pytaniem] Jola.
How does Bellingham feel about that shoulder?
No, Bellingham had a shoulder issue and they will check it tomorrow. Play the entire match. He sustained minor damage, but was able to continue playing. They will do the tests tomorrow. I don’t think it would be anything serious. Hopefully he will be available for Wednesday. The match was a good match, I think. We had a good attitude and energy and created many chances. In the end, there was little lack of effectiveness. Yes, we were hurt by this result, but in my opinion the match was good.

[Onda Cero] There is a slight feeling that when Bellingham makes a mistake, the team is trapped. Do you have the same feeling?
no. I don’t have it, because we have a lot of resources. Today Bellingham did not have any great scoring chances, but we created them through Valverde, Vinicius, Joselu, Rodrigo… We lacked some effectiveness.

[SER] Only three changes were made, including Nacho for Camavinga, who had a physical problem. Moreover, I replaced Modric in two changes. Why?
To add width to the match by introducing Rodrigo on the wing. We changed the system to 4-3-3 to add energy. Modric played a very complete match. I could have replaced Valverde or Camavinga, but I decided to replace Modric to add energy. He didn’t deserve to come off, but no one deserves to be substituted, again, it was a good game. We had 22 shots, 0 shots on target. I think it was a perfect match. We also defended well against counterattacks and were aggressive. I evaluate the team well, and sometimes you may not be able to score a goal.

[Radio Nacional] Yesterday I asked the strikers for goals, and today I scored the first match without a goal this season. How do you rate it? Does this worry you?
No, no, not worried. As I say, we played, we tried in many ways: through crosses, through balls, through passes between the lines… We tried in every way, but it did not work. Anyone who knows this world knows that this can happen. The most important thing was to create chances until the end, and as always, we tried until the last second.

[Relevo] I tried, but Rayo seemed to be winning touch balls and second balls. Is the team tired at this stage of the season due to the many minutes played and travel?
Well, I think today’s game was quite the opposite, because one thing is to defend the penalty area, and the other thing is to defend the entire pitch. I think it was a very complete match in terms of energy. Was the team tired? I didn’t see that. I think I saw a little fatigue.

[Radio MARCA] We saw that Bellingham was uncomfortable, but not physically. We saw that after the clash with Cess in the first half, he protested a lot and searched for him after the final whistle to talk to him. It was very hot. Did you see it similarly? What happened to him?
I don’t know. I don’t know what happened to Sis. I think it was a battle on the field and in the end I don’t think anything happened. Bellingham is a fighter, a winner, and sometimes it hurts him that we can’t win.

[OkDiario] Yesterday I talked about the opportunity to get to the table. Is this result painful for this reason as well? How does the team feel?
Well, as I say, of course we are hurting from the result, but not from the match. Sometimes you win a game when you don’t deserve it, and sometimes you don’t win a game when you deserve it. I think we clearly deserved to win. We may not have deserved it in other matches, but we won. We have a very good position in the table because we have played 7 away games, and this was only the 5th game at home. We are in the fight, we have a great position in the Champions League and there is no drama. There is confidence that we will do well. As always and as was the case today, because today we did not play badly.

[ABC] Have you thought about letting Arda Guler in? Are you thinking about that for Wednesday?
It wasn’t just one moment, because in the last minutes there was a lot of fighting and high balls. There were many duels, and this was not the right moment. As I said yesterday, we must deal calmly with Arda. He started training with us and I think he will play quickly.

[El País] You said that sometimes you win when you don’t deserve it. Have you thought about the classic?
Well, if you win at the last second, it could be a tie [śmiech]. The draw in El Clásico and the win today did not change anything. This is how we have to think. If we win one of these two games, it will be better to beat Barcelona than to beat Rayo.

[El Mundo] This lack of effectiveness was greater in the first half. The second was lacking ideas. Is that how you saw it too? Did you ask the team for more in the second half?
I think in the first half we played too much on the left side and we had too many players there. We should have used the right side more, which we did in the second half, because many dangerous situations came from the right side: Modric’s pass to Vinicius, Rodrigo’s shot… There was more movement on the right side in the second half and that’s all. I said it to the players after the first half.

[DAZN] Could a draw at this stage of the season be a warning to the team and show that it has difficult matches ahead in which points could be dropped?
If we evaluate only the result, it is attention. However, I think that… I can’t just judge the result and feel happy after a win or sad after a draw or defeat. No, I too have to feel sad after wins when the team doesn’t play well. Sometimes I can also be happy when we don’t win. I think the team showed a good face and that’s enough for me.