Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti’s pre-match team talk to his players ahead of the Champions League final has found its way into the public domain.
Nobody knows how to coach a team in the showpiece of Europe’s premier club competition better than the experienced Italian. This is Ancelotti’s fifth Champions League decider as a coach – more than anyone else – and he has guided his sides to three victories in his previous four attempts.
Ancelotti has lifted the tournament twice with Milan – in 2003 and 2007 – alongside his 2014 triumph with Los Blancos in his first spell at the Spanish giants. Of course, the one time his side did fall short was against Liverpool – when his Milan side remarkably blew a three-goal advantage at the break to eventually lose on penalties.
The Spanish giants will be aiming to lift the 14th European Cup in their history on Saturday night having dominated the competition more than any other club, with each round this campaign somehow becoming more mind-boggling than the last. Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp ’s Liverpool are eyeing their seventh title having reached their third final in all under the German coach in the past five seasons.
Ancelotti’s pre-match inspiration talk to his players has found its way into the media after Spanish TV station La Sexta captured the Italian’s words to his players on Friday, a day ahead of the showpiece.
The Madrid boss can be seen telling his players: “What we have done up until now is honestly not important right now. So tomorrow, you have to get used to it. You’re all here and you have to enjoy the most important game in football. It is going to be beautiful, but it will be difficult.
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“Tomorrow the final is going to be like a party. And after the game, we are all going to be happy,” Ancelotti said as he wrapped up the pep talk. “So that is everything I’ve got to say.”
This campaign, a 17-minute hat-trick from Karim Benzema – unquestionably the standout player of this season’s tournament – condemned Paris Saint-Germain in the Round of 16 in the Champions League, kickstarting a scarcely believable run of comebacks by Real Madrid.
The Spanish giants eliminated Chelsea in extra-time of their quarter final clash having trailed by three goals at home with the Blues having another contentiously disallowed for handball, before two goals at the death sparked the most extraordinary of comeback victories over Manchester City in the last four to set up a mouth-watering decider against Liverpool.
