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Ancelotti looks to celebrate century in style away to Elche

Xinhua, February 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti will complete 100 games in charge at the club when his side travel to face struggling Elche on Sunday night.

Ancelotti's year and a half with Real Madrid have brought a return of calm to the club following the sometime turbulent reign of Jose Mourinho, which was filled with too many controversial moments and what at times seemed like personnel vendettas against players with whom he failed to see eye to eye.

Ancelotti's 99 games to the moment have brought 77 wins, the same as Mourinho in his first 100 games, but the Italian has won those matches with a different style of football, relying more on a passing game than on the effective but sometimes dour defense and counter-attack favored by the now-Chelsea coach.

While it is true Real Madrid have not been at their best since the start of 2015, and there have even been tentative mentions of the word 'crisis' the fact is they are still top off the BBVA Primera Liga, although that could change if Barcelona defeat Malaga on Saturday, in which case Real would need to win in order to recover the leadership.

The side received a morale boost on Wednesday when they virtually assured their place in the last 8 of the Champions League with a 2-0 win away to Schalke 04. That game saw Cristiano Ronaldo re-discover his scoring boots, although some doubts still exist over his fitness as he struggles to recover from a recurring knee problem.

Pepe also returned to the side in midweek to give more stability to a defense still missing Sergio Ramos, but his partner in Germany, Rafael Varene is a doubt for Sunday after suffering a cut in his foot. If Varene doesn't recover, Nacho Fernandez will play while Alvaro Arbeloa covers at right back.

Meanwhile although Luka Modric returned to full training on Thursday, he is still lacking match fitness, while Sami Khedria and Fabio Coentrao also miss out through injury.

Eleche are at full strength for the game following their surprise win away to Eibar last week but as coach Fran Escriba commented on Friday, with his side fourth from bottom of the table and immersed in an economic crisis. Endi