Football
9y

Carlo Ancelotti says comments about Sepp Blatter misunderstood

Carlo Ancelotti has taken back his criticism of Sepp Blatter, with the Real Madrid coach admitting a mistake in thinking the FIFA president had backed Manuel Neuer over Cristiano Ronaldo for this year's Ballon d'Or trophy.

On Wednesday morning, Ancelotti told reporters that it was "impossible to shut up" Blatter, and that any suggestion Neuer was more deserving of the trophy for the best player in 2014 was nonsense.

Blatter had in fact suggested that Neuer should have won the Golden Ball prize, which was instead awarded by FIFA to Lionel Messi as the best player at last summer's World Cup in Brazil.

Speaking after Madrid's 4-1 Copa del Rey first leg win at Cornella, Ancelotti told a news conference that he misunderstood a question and that was to blame for the mix-up.

"I need to correct what I said about Blatter, maybe the question was not very clear," Ancelotti said at the postgame news conference. "They asked me about Blatter calling for Neuer to win the Ballon d'Or. He did not call for that. He was talking about the World Cup that Germany won. I am in agreement with him [about that]."

Madrid easily won the game against the third tier Catalan side, with Raphael Varane heading home from two first half corners, and Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez and substitute Marcelo adding to the scoreline in the second half. Cornella were level for 15 minutes during the opening period, after pharmacy student Oscar Munoz rifled in a volley to equalise.

"We played a serious game," Ancelotti said. "We did well and ended up imposing ourselves on the game, so I am happy. Cornella deserved to score with the work put in, that is fair."

The Madrid-supporting crowd inside Espanyol's Cornella-El Prat stadium cheered throughout for Spanish starlet Isco.

"That is good, [Isco] is loved by the fans," Ancelotti said. "He is very motivated, he runs a lot, and this is his best period since he arrived [at Madrid]. We hope he maintains this rhythm and the same attitude."

Ancelotti made seven changes from the team which beat Barcelona 3-1 in Saturday's La Liga clasico, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Toni Kroos, Iker Casillas and Luka Modric among those rested. Those players who had featured had all come through without any problems, Ancelotti said.

"[Benzema] is fine, he did not need to rest in this game," he said. "All the squad is fine and those who have not played much, like [Sami] Khedira and [Asier] Illarramendi did well."

Hernandez, who has now scored on both his starts for Los Blancos since arriving on loan from Manchester United last summer, told Canal Plus after the game that he had no complaints but was intent on proving he was up to playing for Madrid.

"I am working so that I can take advantage of any chances, to be at the level of the Madrid badge," the Mexico international said. "I am not getting into any debates. I will try and show my quality when I play. The boss asked us to be professional and respect all our opponents. We played as if it were the clasico."

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