Carlo Ancelotti says Liverpool were the easiest team to prepare a gameplan for during the knockout stages of this year’s Champions League.
The Real Madrid head coach etched his name further into the folklore of Europe’s premier club competition after masterminding the Spanish club’s success that culminated in last night’s 1-0 victory in Paris.
Despite owing their win to man of the match, Thibaut Courtois, who pulled off a number of outstanding saves, Real ultimately deserved their victory and saved their most accomplished display of the competition for the final.
Real’s run to Stade de France had previously been characterised by a couple of miraculous acts of escapology against clubs like Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City.
Ancelotti, however, claimed Liverpool’s style, based around a 4-3-3 formation, their high defensive line and pressing game made them straightforward opponents to counter.
‘Looking back, people said oh PSG were unlucky, Chelsea were unlucky, Manchester City were unlucky, this was practically the only game where people thought we were more or less on the same level,’ smiled Ancelotti in his post match press conference.
‘I think it helped that Liverpool were easier to decipher than the others, because they have a very clear identity and we could prepare the way that we did. We knew what strategy to take, don’t give them space behind the defence to run into.
‘Perhaps our football wasn’t extraordinarily beautiful tonight on an aesthetic level, but playing out from the back to incentivise their pressing wasn’t a great idea.
‘We had a few more long balls, then when their press in our half of the pitch lessened, we got to control the ball more especially in the second half.’
Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen felt that despite Madrid’s triumph, the Reds still deserve to be regarded as the best team in Europe, a claim refuted by his ex-international teammate Rio Ferdinand.
Ferdinand said: ‘I don’t think they are the best team, you’ve got to win the big trophies to be considered that. I think they are an unbelievably exciting team, their intensity, the points tally they’ve got this year, the consistency.
‘They’ve competed in every single game available to them but you’ve got to get your hands on the trophies to be called outright the best team in Europe.
‘I don’t think they can be considered that and that would be disrespectful to a team like Madrid who have done what they’ve done to the other best teams in Europe. ‘They beat all our top three teams in our league they got rid of them and got their hands on the trophy.’
