Real Madrid have listed Ancelotti replacement amid Perez ‘tension’

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Real Madrid news is coming thick and fast in the wake of their 2-1 El Clasico defeat to Barcelona on Sunday. Goals from Sergi Roberto and Franck Kessie gave the Catalan giants a huge win, boosting their hopes of winning the La Liga title. Express Sport now takes a look at all the latest coming out of the Bernabeu with Carlo Ancelotti, Florentino Perez and Federico Valverde in our round-up.

Ancelotti replacement list

According to the Daily Mail, Real Madrid have placed Mauricio Pochettino on a list of potential next managers.

The Argentine is currently being linked with a return to Tottenham, particularly in the wake of Antonio Conte’s brutal rant on Saturday night.

But Real have interest in the 51-year-old, too.

Ancelotti won La Liga and the Champions League last season, justifying Perez’s decision to bring him back for a second stint at the Bernabeu.

Yet his position is looking increasingly uncertain, with Barcelona in charge of both La Liga and their Copa del Rey tie.

Perez ‘tension’

Perez didn’t attend the match between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

And this, according to Marca, is due to an increase in tension between himself and Barcelona president Joan Laporta.

Perez hasn’t missed a single El Clasico during his two stints as Los Blancos chief, even witnessing Luis Figo’s debut for the club back in 2001.

But relations between Real and Barcelona are strained at present amid an investigation into the latter’s private affairs.

Whatever the chaos off the field, however, Barcelona are impressing on it – with the club now poised to win La Liga for the first time since 2019.

Valverde on Barcelona ref

During Real’s defeat to Barcelona, Marco Asensio had a goal ruled out for offside.

But Valverde, speaking to club media after the game, refused to criticise the referee for that decision.

“He was offside, I didn’t realise and I celebrated,” said the Uruguay international.

“I don’t like to discuss the referees. It can go for you or against you. I haven’t seen the replay so I can’t talk about it.

“I always look at our team, our pride, we have to focus on ourselves, on playing and trying to win games.”

Courtois makes vow

Also speaking to club media, Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois insisted they’d do everything to bounce back from the Barcelona defeat.

“I’m happy to help the team but the only thing that mattered today was the win,” said the Belgian.

“We can’t give up. We have a great team and there’s a lot of football to play.

“We’ve got two nice months coming up and we’ll fight until the end.

“We will come here to win in the cup and reach the final. Then there’s the Champions League too, which we’ll go all out for.”

Ancelotti says Real didn’t deserve to lose

Addressing the agonising defeat at the Nou Camp, Ancelotti expressed a belief his side didn’t deserve to lose.

“We’re further away than we were before and it’s even more difficult now but we’re going to give our all until the final game,” said the Italian.

“We didn’t deserve that defeat, to be honest. We tried everything, we played well and got the goal at the end. The game was won.

“We’re sad, it’s painful but we’re proud of the performance we put in. It was a complete display from the first minute until the last.

“We haven’t won it due to an offside which was extremely doubtful and we’re heading back to Madrid with those doubts still in our minds.”

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