Ancelotti
Champions League: Why Real Madrid detest playing against Man City at this stage – Ancelotti
Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti said given a reason he detests playing against Manchester City after it secured a playoff place in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The Real Madrid beat Brest 3-0 away in their last league phase game of the Champions League to set up a playoff meeting with either Celtic or City.
But Ancelotti asked about who he would rather face for a chance to advance to the last 16 at a post-match press conference, he said plaiying againg Man City at this stage would be much complicated fir both teams.
According to him, “We have to wait for the draw”, which will be made early on Friday afternoon in Europe.
“If we play City, it will be more complicated for both of us. Obviously City has a better chance of winning the Champions League than Celtic. We don’t like it against City, but if we play [against it] we will do so as we have done these years,” Ancelotti explained.
Ancelotti was plain in reaction to Real Madrid playing Man City, indicating he would rather see City exit the UCL in the league phase, which it looked on the verge of doing ahead of coming back to beat Clube Brugge.
Defending champion Madrid has been a late bloomer too, and Ancelotti said it was a shame “not to have woken up earlier in this competition because now we are in a good dynamic”.
“We have to respect the table. I don’t like this format because there are too many games and I’m in favour of playing less to wear out the players less,” explained Ancelotti, who has complained about the soccer calendar before.
“Playing two more games doesn’t hurt us because the team is in a good physical and mental moment. I have full confidence in this team because I see very good things,” he then said praising his team, which has recovered from an early season slump to stay alive in Europe and also top La Liga by four points.
After being victorious in France, Madrid now returns to Spain and plays relegation zone-lingering Espanyol in Barcelona on Saturday.
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