Champions League: Trailblazer Ancelotti and Del say Madrid, City match great advert for football
With Real Madrid’s 3-3 Champions League quarter-final draw against Manchester City, Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti has become the first-ever manager to take part in 200 Champions League matches.
Coincidentally, Ancelotti drew level with the previous record, set by Alex Ferguson, the last time he faced Manchester City, during the second leg of the 2022-23 Champions League semi-final.
Ancelotti has an impressive record of 114 wins from 200 UCL matches after the conclusion of Tuesday evening’s quarter-final against Man City, which ended level at 3-3.
Only nine coaches have amassed over 100 matches in the Champions League: Jurgen Klopp (100), Massimiliano Allegri of Juventus (100), Diego Simeone (101), Mircea Lucescu (115), Jose Mourinho (145), Pep Guardiola (168), Arsene Wenger (178), Ferguson (190) and Ancelotti (200).
Of Ancelotti’s 200 Champions League matches, six came with Parma at the beginning of his career, 10 with Juventus, 73 with Milan, 18 with Chelsea, 10 with Paris Saint-Germain, 25 in his first stint with Real Madrid, 12 with Bayern Munich, 12 with Napoli and a further 34 with Real Madrid since his return in 2021.
- Carlo Ancelotti: 200
- Alex Ferguson: 190
- Arsene Wenger: 178
- Pep Guardiola: 168
- José Mourinho: 145
Meanwhile, after the Tuesday night’s tantalising 3-3 draw against Manchester City Ancelotti described the match as an ‘advert for football’, but he always knew that was going to be the case given the nature of the two teams contesting.
The Italian and his squad of Galacticos will head to the Etihad in a fortnight with the scores level.
Bernardo Silva opened the scoring after 108 seconds on Tuesday night, which was answered by two rapid-fire Madrid strikes in the 12th and 14th minutes. Phil Foden, Josko Gvardiol, and Fede Valverde all found the net in the second half to end the tie level.
“Great match, it was an advert for football, but it was always going to be that way given the quality that was on the pitch,” Ancelotti said to Mediaset, reported via TMW.
“Whenever we had the chance to keep the pace high, we controlled the game well. They punished us with two goals that flew straight into the top corner.
“A draw was a fair result. Knowing that we fought with them on level terms gives us a lot of confidence heading into the return leg. The only regret is for some opportunities that we could have done better with when the scores were at 2-1.”
Ancelotti was also asked about the atmosphere inside the Santiago Bernabeu, which might have been aided by the closing of the stadium’s roof before kick-off.
“Our stadium helps us a lot,” he said. “But now we will have to do the same without the support of our stadium behind us.”
Also, former Italy World Cup winner and Juventus legend Alessandro Del Piero labelled described the match as ‘one of the best matches in the history of the Champions League’.
Del Piero, who was working as a pundit alongside former Champions League-winning coach Fabio Capello on Tuesday night, claims that the quarter-final first leg at the Bernabeu was one of the best matches he has ever seen in the competition.
“It might have been one of the best matches in the history of the Champions League. Because of the level of play, because of the beauty of the goals,” Del Piero said, reported via TMW.
“When you get matches of this magnitude, we tend to prepare ourselves for a tight encounter, but instead, we saw two teams tackling each other head-on.”
