Carlo Ancelotti: I'm surprised that Vinicius has more yellow cards than the dirtiest midfielder in LaLiga

Carlo Ancelotti was pleased with his team's performance in the press room after the drubbing of Almeria. The Italian coach revealed that he emphasized to his team the need to be more focused in defense, something that worked except in two specific cases that made him angry.

He believes, however, that these two warnings will do the team good and he prefers to embrace the excellent form of his attacking trident, which he already believes is showing similarities to the legendary Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema connection.

With that being said, one negative aspect of the match was Vinicius Jr's yellow card, which will see him miss the next LaLiga Santander match through suspension.

Ancelotti was bemused by this outcome, with the Italian questioning how the Brazilian has amassed more cautions than a player he dubbed as 'the dirtiest in LaLiga'.

"It's clear that he doesn't win anything by complaining, but it's surprising that he has ten yellow cards. The dirtiest midfielder in LaLiga doesn't even have 10 cards," Ancelotti claimed in his post-match press conference.

"He's been given too many cards and less to those who have kicked him.

"The yellow card thing is complicated. This protest is a yellow, of course, but the referee is a judge who is very focused on the match. Protests can't affect the rest of the match, it can't be that a referee doesn't whistle because a player protests."

Karim Benzema's continued good form is putting him in contention to win a second successive Pichichi award, leading the Italian coach to praise his efforts.

"Benzema is doing well and has shown that. We're very good in attack and we're dangerous. When we're good at the back, the team does very well offensively," he added.

Defensive frailties have plagued Los Merengues of late, although many have put that down to a lack of concentration once a lead has been established.

Ancelotti was keen to make clear this didn't overly concern him, although he didn't understand how the team had conceded so many goals recently.

"It doesn't worry me because I know very well what this team can do, but I can't believe we've conceded six goals, it's true," he concluded.

"What happened is that we relaxed. Today we had focused the game on the defensive aspect and we did very well in pressing after losing the ball.

"When they scored the goal I was angry in the dressing room and then again. It's a good wake-up call and I don't think it's going to happen in the next games."