During his press conference on Friday, Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez hit out at Real Madrid for their apparent pressurising of referees using the Real Madrid TV channel. The 44-year-old believes that it has a significant effect on the officials’ performances whenever they take charge of a Los Blancos, using the recent controversial clash with Almeria as an example.
Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti was asked about the matter in his own press conference (via Marca) ahead of Sunday’s Madrid derby at the Santiago Bernabeu. Although he refused to comment, he did appear to aim a thinly-veiled dig at Xavi.
“I don’t want to go down to this level out of respect for Spanish football. It’s not professional (to speak about this).”
Looking ahead to the match against Atletico Madrid, Ancelotti spoke on the goalkeeping situation at Real Madrid. Andriy Lunin has started the last two, although he refused to confirm whether the Ukrainian stopper would retain his place, despite an impressive performance against Getafe.
“It depends a lot on the feeling. They’re both fine. It’s a fact that I take into account that they haven’t had three games in a row since we’ve rotated. I’m not saying who’s playing tomorrow, and they don’t know either.”
The match against Atleti will be a huge test for Real Madrid. It is imperative that Ancelotti gets his keeper selection spot on, something that has been debatable in recent weeks.