Rafael Benitez has warned Liverpool that his old sparring partner Carlo Ancelotti still has a few tricks up his sleeve.
The two went head-to-head 17 years ago in the Champions League final - and the Spaniard came out on top after the Reds fought back against AC Milan - turning around a three-goal deficit before winning on penalties. Ancelotti was widely credited after this year's semi-final with Manchester City for changing the tie - bringing on Eduardo Camavinga, goalscorer Rodrygo and Marco Asensio - before Los Blancos mounted a dramatic late turnaround in the Bernabeu. And Benitez says it was no fluke.
He said: “At Real Madrid it’s more about having quality players who can make the difference on their own - Ancelotti can organise the team. It’s giving them the confidence to play as well as they can.
“Ancelotti then has the ability - through experience - to make the right decisions. And that’s what it is - experience. People talk about ‘progression’ - these social media football managers as I call them - but the reality is that it’s experience.
“His knowledge has given him an ability to make the right decisions on more occasions. You will make mistakes as a manager - team selection, game-plan, substitutions. But Ancelotti is clever enough to read games and, with age and more experience, he has improved at it."
Benitez admitted that his Liverpool side might not have been the best in Europe - but that they still carried off the continent’s biggest prize. And he believes current boss Jurgen Klopp is benefitting from stability in the club’s hierarchy.
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The Spaniard added: “What Liverpool have done well in the past few years is manage the business properly - and do well on the pitch as well. It’s difficult to be competitive if you have to sell your best players - not your bad ones.
“I left Liverpool because the new owners weren’t going the way I wanted. I had four years left on my contract.
“I had to do a deal to go because I could see they were taking the club in a direction I didn’t want to go in. What Liverpool have now is that people are doing things in the right way - if that happens you can continue as a manager and be successful.”
