Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti had messages for his Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola, as well as for his star midfielder Jude Bellingham ahead of Wednesday night’s Champions League quarter-final second leg in Manchester.
The Italian conducted his customary pre-match press conference on Tuesday evening approaching the deciding leg of the Real Madrid-Man City quarter-final, which is currently level at 3-3 after last Tuesday’s thriller at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Among the reporters’ queries was a question on what Ancelotti asks of Bellingham, to which he replied: “I ask him, like everybody else, to work for the team. The goals he has scored have been an additional bonus.
“He will be one of the most important players in Madrid’s future, he is only 20 and sometimes we forget that. He is incredibly mature and just fantastic for us.”
There was also praise for Bellingham’s former Borussia Dortmund teammate and current Man City talisman Erling Haaland.
“He is one of the most dangerous players they have. The fact that he was relatively quiet (in the first leg) is a credit to our defence. That said, he is probably the best centre-forward in the world, he is very dangerous.”
Then, while discussing the threat posed by Guardiola, Ancelotti promised that there would be no dark arts involved against his colleague and close acquaintance.
Guardiola had said that Madrid surprised City with their performance last Tuesday, so Ancelotti was asked if he had any other tricks up his sleeve ahead of Wednesday’s return leg.
“No, no,” Ancelotti laughed. “We know each other very well. He can rest assured there won’t be any magic tricks tomorrow.”