Ancelotti fancies playing Milan in final as Klopp highlights fantastic performance
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has one hope going into the Champions League quarter-final, for Real Madrid to avoid his former club Milan. ‘I’d like us to meet in the Final in Istanbul.’
The Merengues are the tournament holders, having won it last season with Ancelotti at the helm, and swept Liverpool aside 1-0 this evening, 6-2 on aggregate.
There are three Italian teams in the final eight – Milan, Inter and Napoli – and four Italian coaches, represented by Ancelotti, Stefano Pioli, Simone Inzaghi and Luciano Spalletti.
The other quarter-finalists are Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Manchester City and Benfica.
“To be honest, the ideal would be for us to meet Milan in the Final in Istanbul, but there is a long way to go,” Ancelotti told Sky Sport Italia.
Ironically, Istanbul was also the host city when Ancelotti’s Milan lost to Liverpool on penalties after fumbling a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 in 2005.
“Napoli are doing very well, they are dominating Serie A and can therefore concentrate entirely on the Champions League. All the potential opponents in the quarter-final are dangerous, it will be a real battle.”
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola told Sky Sport Italia that Napoli are the best team in Europe, but much like Spalletti already stated, Ancelotti sees through the mind games.
“I wouldn’t put too much importance on that. Manchester City scored seven goals past RB Leipzig … It will be a battle at the quarter-finals, then if we reach the semi-finals it’ll be a battle there too.”
Meanwhile, a disappointed Jurgen Klopp has given his reaction to Liverpool being knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid, losing 1-0 on the night and 6-2 on aggregate over two legs.
Admittedly, it was a significant improvement on the reverse fixture, with the Reds able to prevent Madrid from scoring for 78 minutes before Karim Benzema finally made the breakthrough.
It was always going to be a huge ask for Liverpool to score four goals at the Bernabeu, but in fairness, they played the game on the front foot, but ultimately couldn’t make a breakthrough thanks to fine performances from the likes of Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao.
Klopp did everything he could to swing the match in his team’s favour, bringing on Harvey Elliot, Roberto Firmino, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kostas Tsimikas and Fabio Carvalho as he searched for a goal, but Madrid simply looked the much better team.
The Spanish giants gave the Reds a fitting send-off, playing You’ll Never Walk Alone after the final whistle for the thousands of travelling supporters.
Klopp’s attention will now turn to the Premier League, where they have a big job on their hands to close a six-point gap with the top four and qualify for the Champions League next season.
Klopp: ‘It’s not what we wanted but it’s what we got’
Klopp admitted that the ‘right team went through,’ but commended the effort of his players and in particular, the performance of Alisson Becker, who made several excellent saves.
Speaking to BT Sport, the Liverpool boss said: “Being 5-2 down is not a great result if you want to go through.
“You need to have a special performance and we couldn’t do that tonight. Real Madrid had the best chances, Alisson made two fantastic saves. The right team went through, we have to admit that. Knockout stages are like this. It’s not what we wanted but it’s what we got.
“You need moments in a game like this, if we scored in the first half it could have given us the spark but this is hypothetical. They were the better team in three halves of this tie and that’s how you go through.
“If we draw at home and play like we did tonight, we probably go out as well. We cannot come here and hope that we get something. We prepared for a special performance tonight but it didn’t happen.”
