Ancelotti on injuries and squad: ‘No one can give me advice’

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — A visibly frustrated Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti hit back at accusations that he is responsible for the injuries plaguing the Spanish giant by not rotating his players often.

“I played 1,300 games, made 1,300 lineups and made almost 4,000 changes. “No one can give me advice on this,” coach Merengue said on Tuesday in a preview of the Champions League fifth round away match against Liverpool.

The latest defeat for Madrid, the reigning European champions, was striker Vinicius Junior, who will be out of action for around three weeks with a hamstring injury in his left leg. After facing Brazil in the final double-header of South American qualifying, Vinicius played 90 minutes in their 3-0 win over Leganes on Sunday in the Spanish league.

“He got injured at the end of the game, it doesn’t matter when, the main thing is that he got injured and that he will recover soon. Think about the players who will replace him,” Ancelotti said.

The Madrid injured list also includes Dani Carvajal, David Alaba, Aurélien Chuameni, Eder Militao and Rodrigo.

“The player is professional and is not going to risk injury. “Sometimes it happens that players get injured because there are too many games,” Ancelotti said. “How can this be avoided? “It’s a bit complicated, it’s not just Real Madrid’s problem, it’s everyone’s problem.”

The Italian helmsman admitted that Madrid needs to “gain points” in order to rise to positions in the overall table of the new stage of the championship, so as not to make further compromises. With two wins and two losses, the Meringues will now be fighting in the playoffs to reach the round of 16.

“We need to score points. In games that go to the end, you need to score as many as possible,” Ancelotti said with four days remaining in the new format. “I don’t know if we can get into the top eight because we’ve already lost two, but we have to get as many points as possible.”