Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has revealed the player who will win this year’s Ballon d’Or.
Ancelotti tipped Vinicius Junior to win the award following his excellent performance against Borussia Dortmund after the Brazilian striker scored a second-half hat-trick to help them overturn a two-goal deficit in the Champions League .
Ancelotti said at a press conference that he was convinced that Vinicius, 24, would win the Ballon d’Or for the best player in the world.
“What I can say is that it is rare to see a player who plays a second half like Vinicius did. And not because of the three goals but because of his character; It’s extraordinary.” Ancelotti said on Tuesday.
“Vinicius is going to win (the Ballon d’Or), not for what he did tonight, but for what he did last year. These three goals will already count for next year’s Ballon d’Or, that’s for sure. “He is a player who gets whistled because he can make a difference.”
In a rematch of last season’s final, Ancelotti said there was no panic in the locker room after Real Madrid went into the break two goals down, and that his team had the maturity and experience to understand what they had to do to come back. .
“We lived it calmly, calmly (during the break). “We changed the system and we went back to playing with more intensity,” Ancelotti said.
“Talking about scoring three goals could have seemed utopian, so we talked about small details like passing well, winning duels… You had to win the dynamics of the game, and from there you start winning the game.
“We were timid in the first half, we were not intense with the ball and in the second half we did better, with more quality, more pressure. It was the best second half of the season.
“We have to learn from what we did in the second half. The objective is to start the game and not wait for two to pass us. I don’t think we can play 90 minutes with the intensity of the second half, but we can be more balanced.”
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