Carlo Ancelotti Reveals Real Madrid's 'Mini-Vacation' Plan During La Liga To Keep Players Fresh

Real Madrid are all set to open their La Liga campaign on Sunday with the match against Mallorca away from home. Real Madrid enter into the match as favourites being the defending champions and also coming on the back of beating Atalanta 2-0 in the UEFA Super Cup. 

Ahead of Real Madrid's first La Liga game, manager Carlo Ancelotti revealed Real Madrid's plan to keep his players free from injury and fresh throughout the season with a ‘mini breaks’ strategy. 

Real Madrid's Mini Vacation plan

This year is certainly going to be one of the longest club football seasons as with the new UEFA Champions League format the number of games in a club plays in a season can potentially rise up to 70. 

This has caused major concern among clubs and coaches regarding the health of their players as more the number of games will make players more and more vulnerable to picking up injuries. 

Keeping in mind this reason, Real Madrid are planning to give their players mini breaks during the season to keep them fresh and free from injuries towards the business end of the season as per Carlo Ancelotti. 

“We are not thinking about the 2025-26 season, it may start earlier because of the World Cup, but we are in this season. The players need rest, they need vacation, we are thinking about giving individual vacations to the players,” said Carlo Ancelotti. 

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Carlo Ancelotti further revealed that the medical team is evaluating the strategy and this could be applied to international players like Vinicius Jr and Fede Valverde who play their games in Saudi Arabia.  

“A player can not play for a week and go to rest with his family, especially international players, who have very little rest. They don’t even get a day’s vacation. We are evaluating it with the medical staff and the physical preparation,” revealed Carlo Ancelotti. 

Carlo Ancelotti further cited the example of Vinicius Jr and revealed that it is the only way to save players from injuries. 

“Vinícius, who goes with Brazil, when he comes back instead of playing in La Liga, he rests, three-four days, he goes on vacation. And then he comes back. That’s the only way. Normally those players train, even if they don’t play. But we’re going to take that away, let them do what they want to do on those days. That’s what we’re going to do,” said Carlo Ancelotti. 

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Real Madrid start their title defence against Mallorca and are certainly the favourites to win La Liga this season. Given Real Madrid's injury concerns from last season they will be hoping to avoid such a scenario.