Coach Carlo Ancelotti of Spanish record champions Real Madrid is optimistic ahead of Tuesday’s round of 16 first leg of the Champions League at Paris Saint-Germain.
“We have a good feeling, we have all the self-confidence in the world,” said the coach of the team around ex-Munich Toni Kroos and David Alaba to journalists in Paris the evening before the top duel.
However, the 62-year-old Italian also spoke of a “tough game against a tough opponent who, like us, wants to win the title. It could easily be the final and nobody would be surprised. But we really want to eliminate PSG.”
The former Bayern coach (2016-2017) knows the French club very well, having been PSG manager between 2011 and 2013. He also knows the pressure that Paris finally wins the European premier class. “But we’re under pressure too,” he admitted. Before such a top duel, the coaches – he and his PSG colleague Mauricio Pochettino – had to do relatively little work, he emphasized. “The motivation is 100 percent on both sides. To win tomorrow we have to play a full game. Everything has to be right.”
Madrid’s French striker Karim Benzema (34), whose action in Paris was still a question on Monday after recovering from injury, meanwhile said there was no favorite in this top duel. “If you compare the qualities of the individual players of both teams, we are on the same level. There are no favourites.” The opponent is “a great team.”
Real (54), as leaders in the Spanish league, have four points more than pursuers Sevilla. In 24 rounds you only lost twice. Recently, however, the “royal” were far from their best. The Madrilenians have managed just one win in their last three league games and were knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Spanish Cup at Athletic Bilbao (0-1) in early February.