Real Madrid’s media day four days before the Champions League final began with a long and entertaining press conference by Carlo Ancelotti. 44 minutes in which the Italian showed the most playful side of him, as well as reflective. It is a pleasure to listen to the Real Madrid coach. Also when he haggles over questions about Mbappé: “I have never talked about players who are not in my team and I never will.”
The frustrated signing of the Frenchman has taken over too much prominence in recent days, and the team and the club already want to forget about this matter. The fat is in Paris, but on the green, in Saint Denis. Everything else, he annoys: «We have to do our job and our job is to prepare the final well.
This team is very excited about Saturday. It is the most important match for a player”, explains Ancelotti. The Italian confesses that he has nothing to say to footballers who are playing in their fifth final in eight years, and he doesn’t care or is obsessed or excited about being the first coach to win four Champions Leagues. What worries him most are the previous hours: «Personally, the most complicated moment is the previous one, three-four hours before the start of the game. I have a bit of a physical discomfort and this season it has cost me a little more. Increased sweating, increased heart rate. Negative thought. And there is no medication or pills. You have to put up with”.
Ancelotti did not enter into controversy when asked if it was more difficult to win a league than the Champions League, as Guardiola assured last weekend. He does see a difference between the previous 2014 final and the one now. La Décima is exactly eight years old today, and there was another scenario: “There was more pressure because Madrid hadn’t won the Champions League for many years.”
The route in this edition has been complicated, with epic comebacks and very powerful rivals, although Ancelotti “has never been seen outside”. In his opinion, the second leg against Chelsea was the most complicated match due to its mental preparation, coming from Stamford Bridge with a succulent lead (1-3). Classifications achieved thanks to the atmosphere at the Bernabéu and that of the team itself: «We have been able to create a good atmosphere in Valdebebas, and this is created when the relationship is good. When the workers come here, they are happy. This is that there is a good atmosphere and thus the maximum can be achieved. Around the players the environment was clean and this has also been built thanks to the players who have played less. They haven’t given me any trouble.”
Of these players, for the future he only sees Casmeiro, Kroos, Nacho and, perhaps, Modric as coaches, and avoids talking about deserving of the Champions League, as Luis Enrique did: “We deserved to reach the final because of the motivation and commitment. No one has beaten us in this Champions League, but now we need the same commitment and motivation in the final to deserve to win it.” What Ancelotti wants is that this time he doesn’t come back: «We would like them to be the ones who had to come back, but it is true that until now Madrid has been invincible. He has never lowered his arms when everyone thought we were going to lower them.
