Real Madrid’s woes continued on Tuesday as they fell to a 3-1 defeat at home to AC Milan in the Champions League. The Los Blancos had earlier suffered a humiliating loss to rivals Barcelona, mounting up pressure on manager Carlo Ancelotti and his players. Fans of the club are finding blames wherever they can, with midfielder Fede Valverde’s partner, Mina Bonino lending her criticism.
The Argentinian media personality voiced her discontent on social media during Madrid’s loss to Milan on Tuesday. She pointed out that her partner, a natural midfielder, is being deployed wrongly in a wider role in order to make accommodate big money signings like Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo, Jude Bellingham, and importantly Kylian Mbappe.
A fan had criticized Valverde’s performance in the game, especially in Madrid’s defensive half, prompting Bonino to come out in his defense. She wrote,
“Fede plays best as a midfielder. What are you talking about? When are they going to understand once and for all that Fede isn’t a winger?”
Manager Ancelotti was asked about the comments after the game. He responded that following opinions expressed on social media is difficult. However, he defended his decision to remove the Uruguayan at halftime, explaining why the player had been less effective on the pitch. He said,
“From what people think on social media… for me it’s very complicated. I took him off because for me he wasn’t 100 per cent, he had back problems, it seemed like he had recovered because he trained well yesterday but it seemed like he wasn’t at his best physical level, that’s why I changed him.”
The manager went on to admit that his team is not at its best form, noting the need to improve defensively and make important tactical changes that will not be disruptive.
“The dressing room is healthy. Obviously there will be a lot of criticism now, especially about the attitude, the training sessions – but this has happened many times in the past. And what people think, we have to accept it. We have to accept the reality, that we are not doing well now and we have to do better. Because it is very difficult to get to the end of the season like this. We have to fix things, I repeat, we have to defend better because that is the key. There may be some solutions in tactical details but without going crazy making changes.”
Madrid are up against Liverpool next in the Champions League when they travel to Anfield on November 27.
