Football
Alex KirklandRodrigo Faez 3y

Real Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti blasts 'strange' criticism of Florentino Perez from UEFA president

Carlo Ancelotti has hit out at UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin over his criticism of Real Madrid's Florentino Perez and the club's continued involvement in the Super League project.

Ceferin -- in an interview published by the Barcelona's Joan Laporta and Juventus' Andrea Agnelli as "incompetent leaders" who "tried to kill football" with their bid to launch a breakaway league.

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"It seems a bit strange to me, an organisation like UEFA talking like that about a president of a club that has won 13 Champions Leagues," Ancelotti said in a news conference on Saturday. "If the president of a club that has won 13 Champions Leagues is incompetent, what are the rest? I don't know."

Madrid, Barca and Juventus have refused to disown the Super League, even after the other nine original members -- including six Premier League clubs -- apologised, accepted fines, and were allowed to rejoin the European Club Association.

Ceferin insisted on Friday that he "wouldn't mind" if the trio abandoned the Champions League, saying it was "very funny" that they wanted to create a new tournament, while continuing to feature in this year's competition.

He also attacked Perez, who was named president of the proposed Super League, for claiming that football was in crisis without such radical changes being implemented. "He says that the club can only survive with a Super League and then tries to sign Kylian Mbappe for €180 million," Ceferin said.

Real Madrid will host Celta Vigo in LaLiga on Sunday in their first game back at the Santiago Bernabeu since March 2020. The stadium is still being redeveloped, with Madrid playing their behind-closed-doors home games since the coronavirus pandemic began at their Valdebebas training ground.

"It's special for everyone," Ancelotti said. "It's a stadium that has always helped the team. Our objective is to win and play well, and put on a good show."

The coach said he would assess the condition of players such as Vinicius Junior and Federico Valverde, who are only just back in Madrid after playing for their countries in South America's World Cup qualifiers.

"Some of them haven't trained much but I think they don't have any problems," he said. "They're ready to play, they'll train today and I'll talk to them."

He confirmed that new signing Eduardo Camavinga, the 18-year-old who joined on transfer deadline day from Rennes, is available for selection, and praised the form of Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale, who both scored for their countries during the international break.

Bale subsequently picked up a suspected hamstring injury in Madrid's training session at the Bernabeu on Saturday evening and was left out of the matchday squad for the Celta game, with David Alaba also missing out.

However, he would not say how soon midfielder Toni Kroos is expected back from his groin injury.

"There's no hurry," Ancelotti said. "He's getting better. I won't say he'll be back soon, but he'll be back."

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