Lopez’s summer departure to AC Milan restored Casillas to the starting line-up, but with summer signing Keylor Navas waiting for his debut many fans have turned against their former hero, and jeered Casillas throughout Saturday’s 2-1 home loss against Atletico.
But ahead of tonight’s Champions League opener against Basel, Ancelotti has now had enough and says he will refuse to address the matter any further.
He said: “For me, the matter is closed. I don’t have to close it with words. I am clear. I am not going to stir up a debate which doesn’t exist within the team, and I will never talk about the keepers this season.”
The saga has overshadowed the preparations for what should be a joyous occasion as Los Blancos return to the Champions League for the first time since lifting the trophy in Lisbon in May.
Following two successive defeats in La Liga, nothing less than a res-ounding win will do from tonight’s meeting with a dangerous Basel team who won away at Chelsea in last season’s group stage opener.
Although Ancelotti would normally be expected to heavily rotate his players for a fixture of this nature, giving key men such as Cristiano Ronaldo a chance to take a rest on the sidelines, on this occasion the Italian is set to name a full strength team in a bid for greater consistency.
Ancelotti has readily admitted that his team are struggling to find balance and fluency in the opening weeks of the season, and he believes the problem is chiefly a lack of familiarity following the summer arrivals of two new players – Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez – in the key midfield engine room.
He insisted the team’s struggles against Atletico were not connected to his switch to a 4-4-2 formation, instead calling upon his players to show greater mental resolve.
“It’s a question of attitude,” he added. “We need more continuity. Our level of play isn’t as good as last season but we just need more stability. We have to get used to new players and try to play with more spontaneity. We have players who didn’t arrive until the end of August and we haven’t had much time to train with them.”
In particular, Ancelotti admitted that he is focussing on improving his team’s defending from set pieces after they conceded the opener from a corner against Atletico on Saturday, having allowed two more goals from corners in the previous loss against Real Sociedad.
Ronaldo ‘fed up’
Meanwhile, former Madrid president Ramon Calderon claims Ronaldo is growing disillusioned with life at the Bernabeu.
Calderon was the man responsible for bringing Ronaldo to Madrid, when he signed him from Manchester United in 2009 but admits the Portuguese has grown upset at Florentino Perez’s scattergun transfer policy.
He told British radio station talkSPORT: “My impression is he is fed up with the policy of the current president. Gonzalo Higuain was sold and he didn’t like that. Last year he thought it was a mistake to let Mesut Ozil leave and the last straw was selling Xabi Alonso and Angel Di Maria this summer.”
