Vinicius, 22, played a pivotal role in Real Madrid’s victory in the Spanish League and Champions League double last season, and he will lead his team to face local rivals Barcelona in the first leg of the King’s Cup semi-finals on Thursday.
Ancelotti said in a press conference on Wednesday: “Real Madrid depends on Vinicius Junior and that is good because he is one of the best players in the world at the moment.
“I think it’s natural for us to count on Vinicius. He’s one of the best (players) in the world today.
“I don’t need to give him any more advice. We are not going to change our way of playing. Vinicius will have a big challenge against (Barcelona defender) Ronald Araujo and I think it will be fun and I hope he can beat him.”
Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez agreed with Ancelotti on Vinicius, saying his side would be the underdogs against Real Madrid tomorrow.
Xavi added: “Vinicius makes the difference. He’s an exceptional player and adds goals to his arsenal. He’s the kind of player you have to watch closely because of his great form.
“It would be great to win at the Santiago Bernabeu on Thursday, but we are facing a great competitor… who is the favourite.”
Ancelotti does not see that Thursday’s confrontation will have any impact on the league title race, with Barcelona leading the competition by 7 points.
With Real Madrid’s 5-2 victory at Liverpool in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, the Italian coach said that his team has the motivation to fight for all competitions.
“The team is starting to enjoy the fruits of a good job now,” he said.
“When you come (in) March and you’re still competing, that means you have a chance to win titles and we’ll do everything to make that happen.
“We are in a similar situation to last year, with two points less than we achieved in the same period a year ago. We are not much better than last year but we are where we deserve to be.”
#Ancelotti #Real #Madrid #depend