Carlo Ancelotti assures us: Real Madrid, reigning European champions, “are not preparing a match to stop Erling Haaland, but to stop a team that seems unstoppable”, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, who appear on Tuesday ( 9:00 p.m.) at the Bernabéu in the Champions League semi-final first leg.
Carlo Ancelotti: “Haaland is obviously a very dangerous player, who shows impressive qualities, especially in front of goal. He is an obvious threat, but to speak only of him is to forget a whole team which plays well, which has ideas. The defensive aspect will be important, but we are not focusing on a single player. We are not preparing a match to stop Haaland, we are preparing a match to stop a team that seems unstoppable. But I think we have the options to make a balanced match and win.
Toni Kroos (Real Madrid midfielder): “Pep’s teams play his football. We know he has his ideas of football, and whatever team he coaches, we know it’s a team coached by Pep. They’re always looking for a way to make things better, whether it’s in-game or through rookies. Haaland is obviously different. He has scored 51 goals this season, so I feel like the Guardiola-Haaland relationship hasn’t gone too badly so far.”
Carlo Ancelotti: “It’s a more complete team than last year. Last season, they had a striker who was very good, Gabriel Jesus, but with different qualities from those of Haaland. Today they take advantage of long balls better, because they have a very tall centre-forward, who has behind him a distributor like De Bruyne for second chances. But City have not changed their style of play. They are a very well organized team behind, and they manage the ball very well.
Carlo Ancelotti: “Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will look for a positive result. The decisive match will be in Manchester, not tomorrow. We will try to take a small advantage. And not necessarily on the scoreboard: when you feel good, you don’t suffer too much, you avoid problems and you create problems for the opponent, it’s also positive. If you defend well, at worst it will be a draw. That doesn’t mean we won’t attack, we have the qualities to do so. Last year, against City, we conceded five goals, but we scored six. Would I sign for the same result this year. Yes, definitely. So who will play in the middle? Modric, and others.
