Carlo Ancelotti makes World Cup point over Rodrygo’s penalty duty

Originally posted on Football Espana | By Feargal Brennan | Last updated 2/5/23

Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has revealed his reason for not asking Rodrygo Goes to take a penalty in their 1-0 La Liga loss at Mallorca.

Los Blancos’ defeat in Palma hands another title advantage to league leaders Barcelona this weekend as they struggled for fluency in the Balearics.

Nacho Fernandez’s bizarre own goal secured the win for the home side as an injury hit Real Madrid suffered their second league defeat in 2023.

However, the visitors missed a crucial late chance to equalise as Pedrag Rajkovic saved Marco Asensio’s penalty against his old team on 59 minutes.

Marco Asensio from the spot in his hometown, against his former club…

…and it's saved BRILLIANTLY by Rajkovic down low in the corner and Real Madrid still trail Mallorca pic.twitter.com/azxss3VwZv

— Viaplay Sports UK (@ViaplaySportsUK) February 5, 2023

With Karim Benzema missing through injury, there seemed to be some confusion on why Asensio assumed spot kick duties over Rodrygo, despite the Spanish star never taking a La Liga penalty before.

“For the penalty, I chose Asensio over Rodrygo, because I thought he could be affected by the World Cup miss,” as per reports from Marca.

“I chose Asensio because Benzema is first choice, and he is third after Modric, who was on the bench.”

Rodrygo missed the first of Brazil’s penalties in their 2022 World Cup quarter final spot kick shootout defeat to Croatia with Modric converting for Zlatko Dalic’s side.

This article first appeared on Football Espana and was syndicated with permission.

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