The meeting between serial Champions League winners Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola on Tuesday is a ‘small detail’ according to the Italian tactician: ‘Players will make the difference.’
Ancelotti’s Real Madrid meet Guardiola’s Manchester City in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final at the Estadio Bernabeu in Madrid on Tuesday.
The Italian tactician is the only coach to have won the most important European club competition four times, while Guardiola lifted the Champions League three times, twice with Barcelona and once with the Premier League champions.
However, according to Ancelotti, the coaches’ rich history in the competition will be the least important thing tomorrow.
“We can say that it’s a little detail because players go on the pitch,” Ancelotti told Sky Sport Italia.
“It’s true that there will be two experienced coaches in the dug-out, but the quality on the pitch will be extraordinary; this is the nice thing about this match.”
So, is it wrong to say that it will be a meeting between the king (Ancelotti) and the prince (Guardiola) of the Champions League?
“Yeah, it is, because it will be a game between two high-level teams with great players who will make the difference for one side or the other,” insisted Ancelotti.
“Guardiola is a great coach, his teams play good football they are very organised. It’s always hard to face his teams.”
Ancelotti won his first Champions League as a coach while in charge of Milan in 2003, beating Juventus on penalties at Old Trafford. The second one came four years later, still with the Rossoneri, after a 2-1 win over Liverpool in Athens.