Carlo Ancelotti reveals why Vinícius Jr. took Real Madrid’s penalty vs Valencia | OneFootball

Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti has provided an insight into the reasoning behind his decision to hand the club’s latest penalty kick to Vinícius Jr.

Real Madrid are of course fresh off an altogether damaging result.

After welcoming relegation-battling Valencia to Spain’s capital for a La Liga clash, Los Blancos found themselves condemned to the wrong side of a 2-1 result.

The aforementioned Vinícius for his part featured from the off in the matchup, notching Real’s only goal of the evening.

The Brazilian, though, was also responsible for a costly moment early on, which saw his weak spot-kick easily kept out by Valencia no.1 Giorgi Mamardashvili.

The decision to allow Vinícius to take responsibility of the penalty sparked widespread confusion amongst the Blancos faithful, with Kylian Mbappé – in the midst of a stellar run of individual form – having also been on the pitch.

Speaking to the media post-match, it therefore came as little surprise when the subject of the spot-kick pecking order in his squad was put to Carlo Ancelotti once more.

And the Italian tactician went on to explain:

“Penalties? It’s been a difficult season, Bellingham has missed, Mbappé has missed, Vinícius has missed… I wanted to give him some confidence.”

Conor Laird – GSFN