The international duty for club players ended and Madridistas now are readyu to restart La Liga. Unfortunately, right before the restart Real Madrid found out that the head coach Carlo Ancelotti has tested positive for covid-19.
The 62-year-old's diagnosis was confirmed by the club on Wednesday and he will now miss Los Blancos' LaLiga clash at Celta Vigo on Saturday. After the Celta Vigo match comes the Champions League visit to Chelsea, so Real Madrid will hope that their head coach can be back for that game at Stamford Bridge next midweek. The news was confirmed in a short club statement released on Wednesday morning: "Real Madrid confirm that our coach Carlo Ancelotti has tested positive for covid-19."
The 62-year-old's symptoms are "very light", a Real Madrid source confirmed. Ancelotti will return as soon as he stops showing symptoms. He was isolating at home on Wednesday to reduce the risk of further infections at the club, even though protocol in Spain no longer requires people who test positive to self-isolate.
Madrid will be looking to bounce back at the weekend having been humbled 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu by rivals Barcelona in their last outing before the international break. Despite that setback, they remain clear at the top of LaLiga, nine points ahead of second-placed Sevilla.
The club already experienced a similar situation last season when Zinedine Zidane missed LaLiga Santander matches against Alaves and Levante due to a positive COVID-19 test. On that occasion, David Bettoni took over and the team won 4-1 at Alaves before losing 2-1 at home to Levante.
Nevertheless, Ancelotti will have a trusted stand-in for the match, with his son Davide Ancelotti set to take his place against Celta Vigo. He has taken over for his father before, as noted by Marca. During their time together at Napoli, Davide took charge of a 2-1 defeat against Roma in the Stadio Olimpico.
Davide has been part of Carlo Ancelotti’s coaching staff for nearly ten years, starting at Paris Saint-Germain and accompanying his father in each of his five positions since. Currently, the younger Ancelotti takes charge of training sessions at Valdebebas and is one of the more vocal coaches on the touchline.
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