Ancelotti talks Vinicius, Bellingham, Courtois, Militao, Kroos, Ballon d’Or ahead of Granada vs Real Madrid | OneFootball

Newly-crowned La Liga champions Real Madrid will lock horns with relegation-battlers Granada at Los Carmenes on Saturday evening.

Following their win over Cadiz last weekend, coupled with Barcelona’s slip-up to Girona, Real Madrid’s status as the new champions of Spain was confirmed.

Carlo Ancelotti & co. celebrated their coronation by defeating Bayern Munich to secure a place in the finals of the UEFA Champions League this midweek.

All eyes will be on the Wembley showdown against Borussia Dortmund next month and the manager will look at the remaining league games as an opportunity to fine-tune the team’s performances and give chances to some of the fringe players.

Ancelotti confirmed as much in his press conference today, stating that he will be making rotations against Granada.

“We have to do a lot of things. We are playing tomorrow and we have to respect our opponents and the competition. These matches will help us prepare for the final. I will make rotations, but everyone will play,” he said.

“It’s been a very demanding season. I will give rest days after the games.”

There has been a lot of noise surrounding Vinicius Jr. and a potential Ballon d’Or win this year after the season he has had. When asked if the Brazilian can win it, Ancelotti replied:

“It’s not giving itself away today. He’s doing well, he’s got the final and the Copa America. He’s close to winning it and if he finishes well he can win it.”

Praising him and compatriot Rodrygo, Ancelotti added that the Brazilian national team are lucky to have them.

On where Vinicius stands among the best in the game, the manager replied: “He is among the best. It depends on the moments and this is Vinicius’ moment. He helped us to be in the final and win the league.

“I don’t want to forget the others. It’s Real Madrid’s moment, until June 1, then you don’t know, it could be Dortmund’s.”

Vinicius can win the Ballon d’Or reckons Ancelotti. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

On being asked if he thought Vinicius would reach this level, the Real Madrid boss said:

“When I arrived I had only seen him on TV. He seemed to me to be a player with spectacular talent. He has put a lot of things around this talent. More runs, more goalscoring efficiency.

“Thanks to a lot of hard work in training. He is a professional who deserves what he is achieving.”

Amidst speculations claiming that Thibaut Courtois could start in the UCL final against Borussia Dortmund ahead of Andriy Lunin, Ancelotti provided an update on the goalkeeping situation at the club, saying:

“Courtois is going to play, he needs minutes. I have to keep Kepa in mind as well, he deserves to play a game. Lunin also has to be ready to be able to play. I have to evaluate it.”

Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas, though, advised Ancelotti that Lunin should play ahead of Courtois at Wembley. Responding to that, the manager said:

“I respect what Casillas says (that Lunin has to play) and I’m very fond of him. I don’t want to get into this debate because I have almost a month to think about it, I haven’t thought about it.”

On Thursday, Real Madrid confirmed that Aurelien Tchouameni had suffered a stress injury in his left foot, which cast doubts over his availability for the UCL final. On the midfielder, Ancelotti said:

“We have doubts that he can make it to the final, we will see his progress.”

The Real Madrid boss also confirmed that Eder Militao will get minutes in the final La Liga games, adding: “Militao is going to play these games and the rest of the central defenders will rotate more.”

Ancelotti also highlighted the defenders’ contributions in the attacking third, saying: “The defenders have scored a lot of goals. Lucas and Rüdiger too. We only lacked Militao’s goals.”

Providing an update on Jude Bellingham, who played the Bayern Munich game after taking a painkiller injection, Ancelotti said:

“He’s fine, he’s going to rest like everybody else, he doesn’t need more or less than the others. I’m going to rotate in these four games, he’s going to get in these rotations.”

Before signing off, Ancelotti was asked if he feared Toni Kroos could leave Real Madrid once the season was over, to which he replied:

“Before the Bayern game, I thought that if we were eliminated I would talk about the future of the players, but as we have won we’ll leave it for a month from now.”

Source: AS