Praise Endrick, Ancelotti Is Not Surprised Real Madrid Is Difficult To Win Against Stuttgart

JAKARTA - Endrick's brilliant performance, Real Madrid's young striker, in a 3-1 win over VfB Stuttgart in the Champions League, invited coach Carlo Ancelotti to give praise. However, Ancelotti admitted that he was not surprised when Madrid had difficulty defeating their rivals despite playing at home at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Madrid did not show any decline at all when Ancelotti made substitutions. On the other hand, Madrid continued to play fast and pressed opponents as Endrick entered to replace Jude Bellingham in the 80th minute.

Even Madrid finally managed to break the deadlock by scoring two goals in a duel that was held on Wednesday, September 18, 2024 in the morning WIB. The match, which Madrid had predicted to draw, was after an additional goal from Antonio Rudiger and Endrick in injury time.

Endrick at the age of 18 set a record as Madrid's youngest player to break into the opponent's goal in the Champions League. The brilliant performance of the Brazilian national team striker made Ancelotti not hesitate to praise him.

"He can do what other players cannot. He is a brave person. When he gets his last chance in the game, he can get the best solution to maximize it. He is very confident that he will score goals and be able to do so," Ancelotti was quoted as saying on the UEFA website.

"The situation is indeed complicated because there are Vinicius [Junior] and Rodrygo on the wing who are in an open position. So three against one. But he made a good and precise decision even in difficult situations," he said.

"He has a talent that is the dream of every striker. Talenta plays effectively and decisively. You can see he does have privileges that I myself have never seen him. He is also very strong and his shot is very strong," said Ancelotti again.

In that match, Madrid, who are defending champions, had difficulty facing Stuttgart, who played hard until the end. Madrid did excel first through Kylian Mbappe. But Stuttgart was able to equalize through striker Denis Undav.

When the match was estimated to be 1-1, Rudiger managed to break into Stuttgart's goal. Furthermore, Endrick changed the score to 3-1 which lasted until the end.

Despite the difficulties, Ancelotti was not surprised that Madrid had to work hard against Stuttgart. Even goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois had to fall up to save his goal. According to the coach who once handled Juventus and AC Milan, there was no easy match in the Champions League.

"If people think we will win easily, they are wrong. I have handled more than 200 games in the Champions League. I don't remember if there was one easy game," said Ancelotti.

"Nothing more than Real Madrid is always having trouble winning the Champions League. In addition, we are also still looking for the best formulation for this team," he said.

"We did play pretty well, but we started badly. They [Stuttgart] could put pressure on us and win in the fight for the ball. But the important thing is we win in the end," said Ancelotti.