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Crossroads at the

Al-Nassr

facilities in

Riyadh

, the capital of

Saudi Arabia

.

On one side,

Cristiano Ronaldo

, who appeared at the training camp of his new team to continue the mini-preseason that he has been following since the end of the

World Cup in Qatar

.

On the other,

Real Madrid

, who set foot on Arab soil again to start the defense of the

Desert

Super Cup .

The Portuguese made an appearance just as the Madrid expedition bus arrived at the sports city, located on the outskirts of the capital.

Minutes later,

Carlo Ancelotti

appeared before the media to insist that he did not like his team's performance against Villarreal, that he is not bothered by not being 100% in January and that he had "

personal problems

" with

Gennaro Gattuso

, Valencia coach who faces tomorrow.

The two Italian coaches will lead their teams in the first semifinal of the Super Cup.

On Thursday it will be the turn of Barça and Betis and on Sunday (20 hours), the final.

"(

Gennaro and I

) We had very beautiful moments that I will remember forever. But relations are not always good. We had personal problems and I don't want to talk about it. Many coaches have come from that team.

Inzaghi, Pirlo, Nesta

... Maybe they learned something. It was an experience and everyone puts their knowledge into it," said the Madrid coach.

The title defense will come a few weeks after the end of the World Cup in Qatar, an exceptional situation that, according to experts, may be affecting the mental aspect of footballers.

"It may happen that some are affected, but to analyze that you have to wait a bit," admitted Ancelotti, who considers the Super Cup "a very important test."

"

When I went to school, my grandmother told me to put the book under my pillow

and I always did well on the exam," he joked.

Carletto, who assured that the team is not preparing the penalties, will count on

Thibaut Courtois

, the eternal wall of the white team.

"In modern football, it's very rare for a goalkeeper not to have a job," explained the Belgian, happy to be in Arabia: "It's a pleasure. We know we have a lot of fans here and it's like playing at home. Madrid is a club of everyone"




According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Cristiano Ronaldo

  • Thibaut Courtois

  • Real Madrid