Real Madrid were 2-1 victors at La Ceramica against Villarreal on Saturday evening, thanks to a good brace from Kylian Mbappe.
Real Madrid were able to get past the whole match and win at the stadium for the first time since 2017 with minimal rest. Ancelotti complained about the issue after the match, claiming that they will not play without at least 72 hours of rest again.
There were multiple reasons for it, and all of them were right. And Ancelotti talked about one of the reasons why he made a substitution that surprised people across Real Madrid's fanbase.
In the second half, weirdly enough, the Real Madrid coach substituted Raul Asencio - a 21-year-old who was playing well - for an Antonio Rudiger in his 30s, who has shown in recent weeks how unfit he has been recently.
Ancelotti revealed the reason why, and it all came down to Real Madrid's struggle with fitness and rest.
Ancelotti substituted Raul Asencio due to a calf strain during Villarreal vs Real Madrid
He said: "It's an absurd schedule. I had to substitute Raúl [Asencio] due to a calf strain, and rest Rüdiger because he hadn't recovered. It was an exercise in survival. We have to thank the players."
Fair enough, honestly. Real Madrid clearly needed to manage Asencio's calf strain well enough, especially because of his inaugral Spain call-up earlier in the week.
However, one thing that does bother me is that Ancelotti went for a clearly unfit Rudiger who had not recovered well after playing 120 minutes against Atletico Madrid a few days before the match, but he did not go for a David Alaba who had not played a single minute of that penalty shootout win.
It is slightly baffling, especially considering how good of a performance Alaba had in the last match he played - a 2-1 win over Rayo Vallecano - and Ancelotti could have gone for him to see the game out.
Either way, though, it is clear that Ancelotti did what he thought was best for his team. Real Madrid clearly struggled with rest all week, and hopefully, a situation like this does not arise once again.