Real Madrid Coach Ancelotti Blasts Calendar After Three First Half Injuries

Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti once more criticized soccer's overloaded calendar after losing three players to injuries in the first half of a 4-0 La Liga win over Osasuna on Saturday.

Both Rodrygo and Eder Militao - who Relevo reported it is feared has suffered another cruciate ligament injury - had to be brought off over a frantic seven-minute period at the Bernabeu.

Then following the interval, after similarly pulling up with a knock but battling on until the half time whistle, captain Lucas Vazquez was replaced by Luka Modric to further add to Ancelotti's problems.

Post-match, the Italian was asked if he had ever seen so many injuries and quipped that "three in the first half is quite rare".

"The demands of this calendar do not allow the players to rest enough, they arrive with less rest to the matches. It's a general problem, not just ours," he added.

Despite shortages in defence and midfield, where the likes of Dani Carvajal, David Alaba and Aurlien Tchouameni are also all unavailable, Ancelotti was still tight-lipped on whether his club will head to the market during the January transfer window and make reinforcements.

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"We'll evaluate it in the coming months. The only thing we can do is recover as many players as possible. In January, we will see," he answered on this.

Again asked whether he thinks about trusting in the youth products of the La Fabrica academy and La Castilla reserve outfit, or buying elsewhere, Ancelotti confessed that: "I don't think about signings because we have to prepare games with the ones we have".

"Today Raul Asencio gave a good contribution. We did well last year and we'll do well this year," Ancelotti vowed.

Asencio provided an assist for Jude Bellingham to make it 2-0 not long after coming on, and Ancelotti complimented his performance.

"He played very well, [he was] a nice surprise," Ancelotti said. "We have to thank the work that Raul [Gonzalez, the Castilla manager] has done with him. We need him right now."

As for Kylian Mbappe and his goalscoring drought, which continued as Vinicius Jr. banged in a hat trick, Ancelotti noted that the Frenchman "tried, [and] made very good combinations".

"Sooner or later he will score, without a doubt," Ancelotti concluded, as Madrid now heads into the international break hoping it won't lose any more first team stars when they represent their countries over the next fortnight.