Figo defended Vini: "I was also booed when I played badly"

Former Portuguese player Luis Figo defended that Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti "has won everything and proves his worth every year" and ruled out that there is a lack of understanding in the team's attack between Frenchman Mbappe and Brazilian Vinicius.

"I was very surprised that a coach with the value of Ancelotti is questioned, it seems very strange to me that just after the Champions League match the only question was about the future of the coach, a person who has won everything he has won and who proves his worth as a coach every year. In football you can't win all the time," he said.

Figo added that with "the talent of two great players" like Mbappe and Vinicius "not understanding each other in a game does not mean that this situation is generalised" and admitted that Real Madrid fans "have whistled everyone". "I did too when I was playing badly,’ he recalled of the whistles against the French striker in the match against Athletic, in which he did not play due to suspension.

The former Real Madrid and Barcelona player did not give Barca as favourites for the Copa del Rey final to be played on Saturday at La Cartuja, although he considered it possible that Barcelona could win the treble this season, and stressed that Mbappe and Poland's Robert Lewandowski "are very influential players for the play of their teams" as they are doubtful for the match.

"We'll have to see who can replace them with the guarantees that these changes can give. Both have enough experience to face these derbies, it's a game that everyone wants to play. Lamine's maturity and the personality with which he plays at that age is surprising, maybe when you're young you don't think about the responsibility and what it means, you only think about playing football," he said about the Azulgrana player.

On the Barca-Inter Champions League semi-final, Figo stressed that "they are two teams perhaps with a different style" and that "Inter not only defend well" because "they have players who can make the difference and have the possibility of winning three titles as well". "Flick has done a great job at Bayern and at Barcelona he is doing a phenomenal job," he added.