Carlo Ancelotti has responded to Mohamed Salah’s claim that he is on a Champions League revenge mission, saying that Real Madrid has a score to pay.
The final takes place in the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday, four years after Real Madrid upset Liverpool in Kyiv to win the trophy when Sergio Ramos hurt Salah in a hard challenge early in the game and had to be replaced.
Liverpool lost 3-1 without their star player for much of the game, as replacement Gareth Bale scored a second-half double, and Salah has been left with a sense of unfairness.
Ancelotti said:
“That final of 2018 could be a motivation for Salah, but Madrid also lost a final in Paris to Liverpool.
“So we could also want to avenge a defeat in a Champions League final.
“He’s a great player, a dangerous man, but they can look back at 2018.
“And we can look back at the final in 1981.”
It was not the most persuasive of arguments from Ancelotti, given the 1981 European Cup final took place before any of the players involved this week were born.
And there was no controversy in Liverpool’s 1-0 victory to match the manhandling of Salah four years ago by Madrid’s then captain Ramos.
Ramos moved from Madrid to Paris Saint-Germain at the end of last season.
So he will not be involved in the rematch, while Ancelotti stepped in to succeed Zinedine Zidane.
Should Madrid win, Ancelotti will become the first head coach or manager to win the Champions League or European Cup four times. He is currently level with Zidane and former Liverpool boss Bob Paisley with three titles.
Ancelotti said:
“It would be a good personal achievement, but anything can happen in a final.
“I’m not obsessed with individual accolades. It isn’t top of my wish list.
“I take it one day at a time and prepare the game and the build-up to the final.
“The stats are there, and when I retire, I’ll look back at these stats.
“And might be able to say I’ve won four Champions League titles, but right now, I don’t think about it.”
Ancelotti won the Champions League in 2003 and 2007 with Milan, who beat Liverpool in the last final.
Before leading Madrid to ‘La Decima’ in 2014, during his first spell at Madrid.
He said this season’s performance from Madrid has been “huge” after they went close to being eliminated at each knock-out stage by Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City.
Ancelotti said:
“I don’t think we’ve seen teams more committed than us, but that won’t be enough to win the final.
“You’ve got to have the same desire, commitment and motivation and play well to win the final.
“Hopefully, we don’t have to come from behind. We want Liverpool to have to for once.”
Ancelotti was reminded that Tuesday marked precisely 30 years since his last game as a player.
A season-ending 8-2 win at Foggia capped an unbeaten Serie A campaign.
He pointed out that the match turned when he was substituted at half-time when Milan was 2-1 down.
His Milan ties have remained strong, and he sent the club a message of congratulations after wrapping up the Serie A title on Sunday.
Milan has won the European Cup or Champions League on seven occasions, which is second only to Madrid’s haul of 13 and one ahead of both Bayern Munich and Liverpool.
Now there lies a genuine incentive for Ancelotti to stop Jurgen Klopp’s Reds.
“My Milanese friends tell me not to let them win,” he said, “so they don’t equal the seven of Milan.”
Likewise, for more football news like this, click here.
