“The current coach of the Brazilian national team explained that the collapse of the team was due to an unprecedented crisis in the defense, which destroyed the structure of the game.”, — write: football.ua
The current coach of the Brazilian national team explained that the collapse of the team was due to an unprecedented crisis in the defense, which destroyed the structure of the game.
Carlo Ancelotti Getty Images November 13, 2025, 12:59 p.m
Despite a star-studded line-up with Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham, the team failed to win a single major trophy.
In an interview with AS, Ancelotti explained that the key problem was the epidemic of injuries in the defensive line.
“What happened was that we lost our entire starting defensive line,” said the Italian specialist. “We lost Carvajal and Militao (both to cruciate ligament injuries) and Rudiger was playing with a serious injury.”
This crisis forced the coach to make forced tactical experiments, which destabilized the team’s game.
“Let’s not forget that many times I had to put Valverde at right-back and Tchuameni in the center of defense, which left the midfield with significant gaps. We lost reliability at the back and that cost us titles,” added Ancelotti.
The coach also rejected suggestions that the team was affected by the departure of Toni Kroos:
“I don’t think it was because of Kroos, because we adapted to play with Kamavinga, Ceballos, Bellingham, Tchuameni or Valverde,” the coach concluded.