Carlo Ancelotti is a gentleman and he showed it again in the press conference before the clash against Real Madrid at Allianz Arena. The manager doesn’t want to speak about revenge for the way he left Spain and he said really kind words to Zinedine Zidane.
The Italian manager admitted that this wasn’t a normal game: “I know very well Sergio Ramos potential, but we are focus on our strength. We are going to give everything. It will be a special game because I have a lot of affection to Real Madrid, the players, the technical staff… It’s a special game for me and it will be a very beautiful game”.
There is a controversy at Real Madrid about whether the BBC should start or not the game. For Carlo Ancelotti is pretty clear: “I prefer that the BBC don’t play. I prefer Cristiano on the bench, Benzema with the supporters and Bale watching the game at home”.
The player who should be on the pitch despite his physical problems is Robert Lewandowski: “He trained 20 minutes because he has a problem in the shoulder. He had good feelings and tomorrow we should check it. If he doesn’t feel the pain, he’ll play. If he has pain, he won’t play. […] Our strategy won’t change. We can be strong without Lewandowski”.
Ancelotti had really good words for Zidane: “I have a lot of affection to Zizou. I’m very happy for him because he’s doing great. About his future… No coach has the time to think about the future, he didn’t say anything new. The next game is the only thing that matters”.
The Italian manager was asked about which Real Madrid were better, Zizou’s or his team: “If I want to sleep well tonight, I want to think that this Real Madrid is worse than mine”. Ancelotti also explained what he learnt from the Italian coach: “Having the assistance of Zidane is wonderful because he had a great relationship with the players, he helped me a lot. And when I had Zidane as a player at Juventus, I realized how important is having a good relationship with the players”.
Finally, Carletto spoke about Florentino Pérez: “Both clubs are very similar, with people who know about football, very well organized… I haven’t talked with Florentino after the draw because tomorrow we’ll meet. And we are going to say hello because it’s the normal thing to do”, Ancelotti finished.
