Real Madrid can still win LaLiga despite Valencia defeat, says Carlo Ancelotti

Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti reckons the club can still go on to win La Liga despite being stunned 1-2 by Valencia at home on Saturday. Vinicius Jr. missed an early penalty for the home team as Los Blancos could not bring their best.

Mouctar Diakhaby was able to put the visitors in front as he scored in the 15th minute but Vini Jr equalized in the 50th minute. However, Hugo Duro scored the winning goal for the tourists in the 95th minute.

“It’s much more difficult to fight for the league, but we have only one idea, to do well until the end,” Ancelotti said in his postmatch news conference. “We still have a chance. It’s less after this game, but we have to fight until the end.”

Young goalkeeper Fran González made his debut for Real Madrid whereas Ancelotti confirmed that first-choice Thibaut Courtois and deputy Andriy Lunin could recover for the Champions League first-leg quarterfinal clash against Arsenal.

“Today Courtois trained and felt good, and tomorrow he’ll train too,” Ancelotti said. “Lunin, with the doubt with Courtois, we didn’t risk him. He’ll have two or three days to try to recover, and then we’ll see for Tuesday. I think we could have both of them back.”

The Italian manager backed Vinicius Jr. after the Brazilian forward missed a penalty in the first half.

“I don’t think so,” Ancelotti said when he was asked if Vini Jr was affected after Bernabéu crowd blew whistles. “Vinicius is very focused on what he’s doing, he can play well or badly, but he always tries to give everything.”

Meanwhile, this was Valencia’s first win on the road in almost a year.

“To get a result here you have to do everything perfectly,” head coach Corberán said. “The greatest satisfaction is for the fans, who’ve suffered so much. I know what this club is, and we owed the fans a result like this. They’ve shown us great support, and this result is for them. We hadn’t won away for a long time. The fans have suffered. We wanted to give something back to them.”