Real Madrid was held by Girona on LaLiga matchday 12 as the visitors from Catalonia managed to send home one point. Madridistas faced a tough opponent with a great fighting spirit and physical form making it very hard win the ball. The match was open and dynamic but there were also some controversial moments and decisions. Despite the effort from Madridistas, the team play lacked the proper amount of quickness and determination. Carlo Ancelotti spoke to the press following the clash with Girona and spoke about the team’s performance but also commented the controversial episodes.
The coach said: “I don't like to talk about referees but I will today. The first situation is a clear one. It's not a penalty because he doesn't touch it with his hand. I asked Asensio and he said he never touched it with his hand, it came off his chest. The left hand was in an odd position. If he'd have touched it with his hand, there may have been doubts around it. He didn't handle it, they've made it up".
He continued: “The second move is more open for debate. If the goalkeeper gets the ball in his hand, you can blow the whistle, or not. I won't talk about that one. I'm most surprised by the penalty. It came at a crucial time because the game was all but wrapped up. We struggled to score goals, we didn't play brilliant football and we found it tough to win the ball back. We had the chance to make it 2-0 through Asensio. This situation has cost us two points in the table".
Team’s performance: “We could have scored in other moments. This episode impacted the game. We could have played differently, been more convincing, aggressive, quicker, but it's tough at this stage of the season to deliver a high level. It was a difficult game. Through our hard work, the game looked to be going in our favor".
Demanding schedule: “We're not at the level we showed last season due to a few issues. We've got injured players coming back but they haven't played much: Kroos, Modric, Rodrygo, Valverde, Tchouameni was out. We're dealing with all of that right now. We have an awful lot of games, it's a tough spell which hasn't affected us too much yet. On Wednesday we could finish top of the group. Everything is still in our hands. Every game is difficult, that's to be expected. We're not playing at our best levels at the moment because there are too many games and we don't have time to recover 100% physically or mentally. I'm not seeing any teams playing superb football, they're all suffering”.
Upcoming games: “I have a strong squad, but words aren't worth much at this stage. We have to show that on the pitch. We have two games at home and another away at Rayo, but we'll react well”.
Playing surface: “That's an issue we have and they're trying to sort it out. I'm not a groundsman. I hope it's resolved soon".
Squad management: “I can't get inside the players' heads. We do an objective assessment and we choose certain players. The guys who didn't play today were because we didn't want to risk them getting injured".
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