Carlo Ancelotti admits Real Madrid star’s new role ‘didn’t work’ vs Celta Vigo | OneFootball

Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti has admitted that his efforts to shake things up defensively in the club’s most recent outing did not go according to plan.

Real of course marked their return to action on Saturday night, making the trip to Celta Vigo for a La Liga clash.

When all was said and done, Los Blancos emerged on the right side of a 2-1 result, owing to goals on the part of Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Jr.

Had it not been for the brilliance of Thibaut Courtois, however, the reigning Spanish champions could well have found themselves heading back to the capital having dropped points.

This came after the aforementioned Carlo Ancelotti attempted to implement a new system, featuring three central defenders.

The change relied heavily on Aurélien Tchouaméni, who was entrusted with carrying the ball out from the back, from his berth between Antonio Rüdiger and Éder Militão.

It quickly became evident that the Frenchman, however, was unaware of exactly what he was supposed to be doing, culminating in several exchanges between he and boss Ancelotti during the first-half.

Speaking to the media on the back of the full-time whistle at Balaídos, the latter was therefore not shy in admitting that he made a ‘mistake’ with his setup:

“We tried Tchouaméni in that position but it didn’t work well. That was my mistake.”

Conor Laird – GSFN