Carlo Ancelotti has said this is the “beginning of an era,” not the end, at Real Madrid, backing the team to come out of a disappointing run starting with Thursday’s Copa del Rey round of the 16 tie at Villarreal.
Madrid suffered a resounding 3-1 defeat to Barcelona in the Spanish Supercopa final on Sunday, coming after a 2-1 league loss to Villarreal earlier this month which saw them drop three points behind Barca in the LaLiga title race.
Those performances led to accusations that this Real Madrid team — the reigning Spanish and European champions, led by veterans like Luka Modric, 37, Toni Kroos, 33, and Karim Benzema, 35 — is past its best.
“This is a young team,” Ancelotti said in a news conference on Wednesday. “Everyone talks about Modric, Kroos and Benzema but we have to talk about the youngsters too: [Eduardo] Camavinga, Vinicius, Rodrygo, [Federico] Valverde, [Eder] Militao, [Aurelien] Tchouameni and those to come.
“I think this is the beginning of an era at this club… It’s a moment of transition, from a fantastic era to another era. The day that Karim, Toni and Luka stop playing — and let’s hope it’s years away — there are others who will take charge of this team. It isn’t the end, it’s the beginning.”
