Real Madrid need to get back the 'good feeling' before Arsenal clash, says Ancelotti

Madrid, April 12 (IANS) With Real Madrid on the hinges of both their La Liga and UEFA Champions League charge, head coach Carlo Ancelotti wants his side to get back their ‘good feeling’ against Alaves on Sunday. Madrid are now four points behind rivals FC Barcelona in La Liga and were handed a shocking 0-3 loss against Arsenal in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the European competition.

“Tomorrow I want to see a Madrid that is capable of getting back our good feelings. It’s clear that everyone is thinking about Wednesday's match, but that depends on tomorrow's performance. We’re still in the fight for the league, we have to play well and win.

“We have talked about giving a good performance tomorrow and trying to win. We have to give everything because it’s fundamental for us to get back to having good feelings when we play," said Ancelotti in the pre-game conference.

Despite the three-goal mountain that awaits Ancelotti’s side at the Santiago Bernabeu, if any club has shown potential to pull off such a miracle, it is Real Madrid. The record 15-time winners of the tournament have built their success by pulling off miraculous comebacks over the past decade.

Ancelotti acknowledged that his side can pull it off, like many times before, and will try till the very last minute. “We will try. Real Madrid is the only team that has done it many times, but we’ll try to do it once again. We’re aware of how much our fans and the stadium can help us. We're going to try until the last minute and until the last ball, starting tomorrow.”

When asked about the defensive commitment of his side this season, Ancelotti admitted that Arsenal had worked harder to win the game.

"It's a question of the players' attributes. The same thing happened in previous years, we were able to win by running less total distance. The statistics talk a lot about total distance but not about sprint distance, which isn't like this.

"Despite this, we have won two Champions League trophies. Against Arsenal, we did less in every aspect: in sprint distance, in total distance, and in acceleration. They worked harder than us,” he concluded.

--IANS

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