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The Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti speaks with player Eder Militao during the training session open to the press ahead of the Champions League final.
Carlo Ancelotti is the only coach to win titles in the five biggest football leagues in Europe and now he is one win away from his fourth Champions League title.
Even so, not even Ancelotti is interested. immune from pressure, especially before the Champions League final.
“For me, the most complicated moment is the 3-4 hours beforehand. It’s a physical discomfort,” said the Madrid strategist ahead of Saturday’s final in a suburb of Paris. “With increased sweating and heart rate. With negative thinking, but fortunately everything by the time the match starts”.
Few can notice that he suffers like this, if they look at the always calm demeanor of the 62-year-old Italian who enjoys one of His best seasons.
Ancelotti has looked in control from the start after returning to a Madrid team that had gone through a lackluster campaign that ended in a slump. without significant scepters at the reins of Zinedine Zidane.
Ancelotti returned He quickly put Real Madrid on the winning path, keeping the defense solid and making the attack work with Karim Benzema and
Vinícius Júnior. managed well the staff and arrived; to the final stages of the season in good shape.
The team strolled to the La Liga title by winning the trophy with several games remaining, and won the Spanish Super Cup. The road to the Champions League final was special, with comebacks against Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City.
“We have been able to create a good atmosphere in Valdebebas because the relationship is good. The coaching staff has the same percentage as the squad,” she said. “When the workers come here? they are happy and when that happens the team is capable of achieving the maximum. It has been a season in which some players have stood out more than others, but the atmosphere was good and those who have played less have not lowered their arms”.
Among those who did not play much were Eden Hazard , Francisco Isco and Gareth Bale, on leave due to injuries and partly due to poor performance.
“Each decision is quite complicated and sometimes to have everyone motivated you cannot tell the whole truth. This squad has not given me any problems in this sense because everyone has respected the decisions without problems”, he said.
Ancelotti had been criticized for not rotating his players enough in his first time with the club from 2013 to 2015, when he did not win. The League but it took the Champions League title.
A victory on Saturday would put him in a unique place in European football, with four Champions League titles. Only two other coaches have three –
Bob Paisley, who won the European crowns with Liverpool in 1977, 1978 and 1981; and Zidane, who won the Champions League with Madrid from 2016 to 2018.