REAL MADRID
Too much burden for Madrid? Ancelotti criticizes the tight schedule
Published:14/03/2025 - 22:08h
Updated:14/03/2025 - 23:18h
Carlo Ancelotti once again complained about LaLiga's schedule due to the little rest that Real Madrid will have against Villarreal
Real Madrid visits Villarreal this Saturday for matchday 28 of LaLiga EA Sports 2024/25. In the press conference prior to the match at El Madrigal, Carlo Ancelotti criticized the league for the scheduling of the match just 72 hours after the 'Euro derby' against Atlético de Madrid, which had to be decided on penalties after an intense extra time.
"I don’t understand why we play on Saturday and I hope that one day we can change this calendar issue. The rights of television, money... are prioritized, and the last thing they think about is the recovery of the players", the Italian coach began. The 'merengue' team comes from playing 120 minutes on Wednesday and has accumulated 21 matches played this year.
The 'Casa Blanca' had its schedule overloaded in 2025 due to the postponement of a league match against Valencia (due to the DANA) and having to play the Champions playoff to advance to the round of 16. In that sense, 'Carletto' made it clear the difficulty of staying alive in all three competitions (League, Cup, and Champions) at this point in the season, something unprecedented in his second stint as Madrid coach.
The Madrid team arrives at the first break of 2025 exhausted
"It’s a stressful season, but only because of the schedule. Since January we have played two matches every week, tomorrow we have match 21 or 22. There is no time to recover from the pressure and this is what it is", the coach pointed out. Regarding his plan for the visit to Villarreal, Ancelotti limited himself to asking for "an extra effort" from his players.
"We cannot have freshness because we don’t have time. But we can bring quality, a good attitude, play an intelligent match... There is not just one way to win. We can defend well", he argued. Madrid has only accumulated 8 of the last 18 points available in LaLiga and, if they stumble on Saturday, they could head into the break much further away from a Barça that, for now, has 57 points (they are tied), but with a pending match against Osasuna.
