Carlo Ancelotti maintains elegance in the Valdebebas press room. The Italian coach, who walks towards his last days as coach of Real Madrid, appeared in the previous Montjuic classic, decisive in the fight for the league between Barcelona and Real Madrid. He announced nothing about his future, but slid some reflections towards his end on the bench of the white team.
“The honeymoon with Real Madrid does not end, continues and will continue forever until the last day of my life. It’s like in relationships, at first there is a lot of passion, and then other things. And nothing more to add. Real Madrid, such as Milan, are teams that remain in the heart more than others,” said the coach, questioned about recent weeks. “Madrid is a special club that deserves a special attitude, not only for the coach, for players, attendees … It is what I have always tried to do every day.”
These phrases explain the steps of the club and the coach these days, announced the departure of Xabi Alonso del Bayer Leverkusen and the waiting of the classic against Barça to officially announce his goodbye to the bench of Madrid. Both, club and coach, wanted to wait for the Montjuic decisive party to make it public, while Alonso already waits for his chance. “I have read that Xabi leaves Bayer Leverkusen, has done a fantastic job. He has all open doors, he has proven to be one of the best coaches in the world,” the transalpino praised.
On the meeting, which Madrid arrives with four disadvantage points about Barcelona, Ancelotti declared that “Rodrygo and Güler have options” to be headlines in Montjuic and that “what happens around has not affected us.”
“It is not so complicated to prepare this type of matches, there is no need to motivate. You have to give them the clearest possible idea of how to play and what happens around this week has not affected us at all, zero problems. We are well and very confident,” he explained about the game, which he recalled that it is “the last classic of the season because Barcelona will not be in the Club World Cup.”