Carlo Ancelotti spoke in the press room at Real Madrid City ahead of the Real Madrid-Espanyol clash, on matchday six of LaLiga (Saturday, 9 pm CEST): “I want to see Madrid keep improving and progressing. We're getting into good form, we've won our last few games and we want to keep going like this.”
 
“Tomorrow might be a good day to make rotations, but today isn't the day to say whether I rotate or not.”
 
Demanding fixture calendar
“Football needs to reflect because the aim is to play fewer games to avoid injuries. Players have no issue with taking a pay cut if they play fewer games.”
 
“Complaints from coaches and players won't change the calendar this season. But it's important that bodies like UEFA, LaLiga and FIFA think about it. They have to realise that the players are getting tired. Unfortunately, the calendar this season isn't going to change. The players are thinking about changing the future of football and I think that's right.”
 
What is beautiful football?
“Beautiful football depends on the characteristics of the players you have. Beautiful football is based on defending, attacking, using the ball and counter-attacking well. There are many aspects, it's not just one. Everyone has their own opinion on this. I really like my team to defend well, play out from the back well, not waste time in possession and be direct. When you have more positional forwards you have to play differently, like looking for them with crosses. It's difficult to define beautiful football.”
 
Team’s balance
“Balance is something you can do collectively with two or three forwards. In the Champions League in Paris, we played with three forwards and we had perfect balance. If we put in one more midfielder it doesn't mean we have more balance. Having more balance means doing a collective job. The debate could be for instance what is Bellingham - a forward or a midfielder? You don't know what Bellingham is. Achieving this balance comes from a team that fights and sacrifices, and we'll succeed as we've done in the last few years.”
 
Offensive and defensive work
“The team aims to remain compact. If Vinicius, Mbappé and Rodrygo try to press up top, and the midfield and defence don't go up, it's not Vinicius, Mbappé and Rodrygo's problem. The opposite is also the case. If there is a low block, they have to get closer to the midfielders. I understand your thoughts that the lack of balance comes because Vinicius, Rodrygo and Mbappé don't work hard, but that's not the case. If defensive work by the three of them is what's important, I wouldn't play them. I'd put in three defenders. Balance is achieved in the work with and without the ball, and that's where we have to look for it.”
 

 
Playing out from the back
“We're analysing this because we've had a lot of chances created against us. Against Stuttgart, they were created because we were a little bit sloppy playing out from the back. This also happened yesterday against Barcelona and cost them a sending-off. It happened to us against Real Sociedad in a couple of times when we lost possession playing out. But they didn't create that many chances against us. If they did, it was because we lost the ball. It wasn't because of the team's defensive balance or positioning in transitions. To prevent this, we have to play the ball longer, not defend better. It's a solution to avoid problems.”
 
View from the fans
“The fans are delighted with what we're doing. We can play better, but the Madrid fans are used to seeing rock and roll football and not football with a lot of touches. With our characteristics, we're looking to delight the Madrid fans, who I think like to win more than to play well. Ideally, we'd like to win by playing well. Against Stuttgart, we played fantastic football.”
 
Rock and roll football
“Rock and roll football has to be fun, entertaining, with intensity, tempo and without wasting too much time in reaching the opponent's goal. That's the trait that this squad has, which is to play directly. We have players with a lot of strength and energy on the ball and we have to take advantage of that.”
 
Club World Cup and Intercontinental Cup
“The dates have not been confirmed, but we're playing the competitions we're asked to play in. We're not focused on this issue because the Champions League has started and we have the league. We have until December to think about it.”
 
Game by game
“The best thing is to try to win, to think about next Tuesday without injuries and to see the team's improvement. The league and the season are very long and it's not the time to think about our opponents.”
 
How is the team doing?
“I know we haven't been at our best, but that's quite normal at this stage of the season. We've never in the last few years been at our best in September. We've been at our best in October or November, when the season starts to pick up. At the moment we're doing quite well.”
 
Camavinga
“He's close to coming back because he's going to start working with the team next week. He's doing well on an individual level, he's recovered from his injury and he's training very well. He's a very important player for us because he allows us to rotate the midfielders more. He will add a lot to the squad.”
 
Endrick
“He'll be starting some of the next games. And he'll be a starter in many Real Madrid games. Because of his quality, it's quite clear. He's a humble guy, he doesn't talk much and works a lot. I like that a lot.”