Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has refuted ongoing claims that veteran midfielder Luka Modric has been given a reduced role in the team this season or that there are problems.
Modric, who turned 38 last month, signed another one-year contract with Madrid during the summer to extend his time with the club into a 12th season.
Owing to age and rising competition from a new generation of talent, Modric has already seen his playing time consistently fall in recent years – he has started fewer league games with each passing season since the start of the 2020/21 campaign, for example.
Modric has only started twice in La Liga so far in 2023/24, plus once in the Champions League, but Ancelotti denies that is evidence the Croatian is any less important given which games those were.
Speaking to the media ahead of facing Napoli in the Champions League this week, the boss said he considers it "quite surprising" to hear that people think Modric has a different or lesser role.
"He has started the first Champions League game [against Union Berlin], the derby [against Atletico Madrid]. He has not played the last two [in La Liga] because there is a very strong competition. We have no problem with him and he doesn't have any problems with us," Ancelotti said.
"Sometimes I have to make decisions that are very difficult to take. It's just a technical decision that has happened in the last two games. It can change…one day it can be [Eduardo] Camavinga, another day, [Aurelien] Tchouameni. There is not much to explain because every game there is someone who stays in the game. There are seven midfielders and only four can play. Also, when I started five midfielders on, [media] criticised me, so it's better to stay with four [laughs]."
Speaking early last month while on international duty, Modric had suggested to Croatian publication Sportske Novosti that he wasn't entirely happy with how the season had started from his point of view.
"No one is happy when they don't play," he said at the time. "After [starting] my entire career, that feeling is especially strange to me. But well, the coach has decided for his own reasons. I won't sink or ease off because of that. The opposite.
"[Madrid] wanted me to stay and I had the same desire. My only condition for staying was that they treat me as a competitive player, and that they do not keep me in the squad based on past merits. They told me nothing about my status would change, and that's why I signed."
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This article was originally published on 90min as Carlo Ancelotti discusses Luka Modric's 'problem' over reduced playing time.