Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti threatens to boycott LaLiga games

Los Blancos managed to beat Villarreal 2-1 in the game.

According to Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid will boycott LaLiga games for fewer than 72 hours of rest between the matches.

Their match against Villarreal began 67 hours after their Champions League triumph over Atletico Madrid on Wednesday via a penalty shootout. However, the Madrid team did defeat the Yellow Submarines 2-1 on Saturday.

According to Ancelotti, Madrid had twice contacted LaLiga to request a change in the time of Saturday’s 5:30 p.m. GMT match. After that, the Italian management declared that this would be “the last time” that such a schedule was set up. On April 8, Madrid will travel to the Emirates to play Arsenal in the Champions League quarterfinals.

He fumed: “The explanation (for the win in the circumstances) is that this team has something special, character, commitment.

“But they can’t always do it, sometimes I even get angry with them. We have to thank these players for their tremendous effort since January 3. Even more so today.

“I think today is the last game we will play with less than 72 hours rest. We will never do it again. We have asked LaLiga twice to change the time of the game and nothing has happened, but this is the last time.”

🚨⚠️ Ancelotti: “This is the last time we played a game without 72 hours of rest”.“We will NOT show up and NOT play if it happens again”.“We asked La Liga to change the time of the game TWICE. But nothing”. pic.twitter.com/NoDJuUWTMu

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 15, 2025

According to LaLiga sources, Madrid failed to request to push the Villarreal match ahead of the normal kick-off time as reported by The Athletic.

Player unions have brought up the requirement for a 72-hour break between games with FIFA, but it is not necessarily required.

Juan Foyth’s strike in the seventh minute put Madrid behind 1-0, but Kylian Mbappe‘s quick double sealed the victory. Given the league standings and the importance of securing points, Ancelotti was unable to rotate his squad on Saturday.

Ancelotti added: “It was a trap game, because of everything that happened. Because of the hours of rest and because of the strength of the opponent, who are a good team, but we watered down physically.

“The team ended up exhausted, it’s quite normal. It’s a victory that says a lot about this team and the resources of this squad.”

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