The responsibility Lamine Yamal has taken on at just 17 years old, both with Barcelona and the Spanish national team — with which he won the European Championship last summer — earned high praise from Real Madrid’s coach, Carlo Ancelotti. He highlighted the “attitude” of a player who “has started his career in spectacular fashion.” 

“The truth is that he has started his career in a spectacular way. I really like his playing style and attitude. He’s a very dangerous player, but we can’t focus too much on him, although we must consider the opponent’s strengths. We need to stay focused on what we want to do. We respect Barcelona a lot; they’re doing very well, and everyone recognizes their strong start to the season,” Ancelotti said in a press conference.

Focusing on his team, the Italian coach showed great confidence in Mbappé and stated that he wouldn’t give him any special message for his first Clásico, as he has already shone in previous matches against Barcelona.

“Nothing special; he knows perfectly well what he has to do because he has experience from playing many times against Barcelona. His way of preparing for the match is very calm and straightforward, and he’s very confident in his abilities. He’s going to contribute, as always, sometimes more and sometimes less, but we’re confident he’ll bring something important to the team tomorrow,” Ancelotti assured.

Similarly, ‘Carletto’ backed the Englishman Bellingham, downplaying his lack of goals this season and emphasizing his overall contribution to the team.

“He’s doing well, progressing. He’s had ankle and shoulder issues, but he’s in very good shape and contributing a lot. Not with goals, but with important work for us. He knows very well the importance he has in the team,” he said.

“Last year, it was crucial for him to score goals because we had lost an important forward like Karim. Now, we’ve replaced that with Mbappé’s goals. This year, we don’t need as many from him because we have a player who scores over 30. If Jude scores, it’s great; if not, his work is still very important,” Ancelotti added.

Confident that goals from both Bellingham and Mbappé will come, Ancelotti believes both players are reaching their peak form: “Mbappé has already scored and is very important for the team. Even if he didn’t score against Dortmund, he was instrumental in the first two goals, and he’s gradually finding his best version. Neither I, the squad, nor he is in a hurry. We’re satisfied, and he’ll only improve because he has everything it takes to do so.”

The player to look up to is Brazilian Vinícius, who has had a stellar month and heads into El Clásico after putting on a show in the Champions League, scoring a hat-trick in the comeback against Borussia Dortmund. 

“Coaching Vinícius means coaching one of the best in the world, a kid who remains very humble and has been able to develop so much as a player to become one of the best and a future Ballon d’Or winner. No one doubts that, and he has kept the same humility and seriousness he had when I first met him,” Ancelotti praised.

After seeing Vinícius’ leadership in the last match, Ancelotti hopes that this leadership will be shared across the team: “I hope we don’t have just one leader on the team, but many. Vinícius can be a leader; Valverde can be one, and Modric still is. The younger players can show leadership more with their attitude and commitment than with words. The strength of a team isn’t in having one leader; it’s in having many.”