Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti on Thursday said that there was no excuse for his side’s slow start to the season after the team fought back to rescue a 1-1 draw at lowly UD Las Palmas thanks to a Vinicius Junior goal late in the second half.
Ancelotti said he expected his team to play better together and blamed himself, saying that he needs to work harder and do a better job.
“It is clear that we are struggling to find the soundness of last season, but we must not look for excuses. The schedule is tight and we have to recover quickly, because on Sunday we have another game,” Ancelotti told a news conference. “I need to have a clearer strategy, to give the players more clarity in what I want. It’s costing us more than we thought. We have to work and concentrate on the path we want to take.”
Photo: AFP
After only one win in three matches to start the season, last year’s La Liga and UEFA Champions League winners are fourth in the standings with five points, four behind leaders Barcelona.
Ancelotti was asked about Kylian Mbappe, who joined Madrid last month from Paris Saint-Germain, but has yet to score in La Liga, but the coach refused to criticize individual players.
“Our game has been slow. There is not much mobility and the strikers are receiving the ball with the opposing teams already close. When we don’t have the ball, we leave too many spaces between the lines,” Ancelotti said. “I don’t think it’s a mental problem, because the team trains well. It’s just that sometimes you don’t find the best way to play... Things are not going well and we have to fix it soon.”
Elsewhere, goals from Bryan Gil, Viktor Tsygankov, Abel Ruiz and Cristhian Stuani secured Girona a commanding 4-0 victory over CA Osasuna, earning them their first win of the La Liga season.
Gil’s acrobatic volley gave last year’s surprise package Girona the lead in the 34th minute and Tsygankov extended their lead in the 53rd minute with a strike from inside the penalty area.
Three minutes later, Ruiz scored the third goal with an unstoppable strike into the top corner and substitute Stuani tapped in the fourth in stoppage-time to close the easy win.
Girona moved up to seventh in the standings with four points from three matches.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
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