Ancelotti claims Liverpool were ‘easier’ Real Madrid opponents than Chelsea

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has claimed that Chelsea were tougher to prepare for in the Champions League than Liverpool. The comment came after Madrid had beaten Jurgen Klopp’s men to win their 14th European crown on Saturday night.

Vinicius Jr scored the only goal of the game in the 1-0 win after Liverpool had dominated for large parts of the first half. Sadio Mane and Mo Salah both tested an imperious Thibaut Courtois but the Belgian stood firm throughout the 90 minutes to secure the title.

It was a low-key and unspectacular match that had not been in keeping with Madrid’s methods up until that point. Dramatic comebacks had been needed in their three previous ties against Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City so it was a surprise to many how well they dealt with the six-time champions.

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Chelsea shocked Madrid themselves when they overturned a 3-1 deficit to briefly lead the tie in the Bernabeu, only for goals from Rodrygo and Karim Benzema to turn the tie once again.

But after full-time Ancelotti provided insight into exactly that, saying: “Looking back, people said PSG were unlucky, Chelsea were unlucky, Manchester City were unlucky. This was practically the only game where people thought we were more or less on the same level.

“I think it helped that Liverpool were easier to decipher than the others, because they have a very clear identity and we could prepare the way that we did. We knew what strategy to take – don’t give them space behind the defence to run into.

“Perhaps our football wasn’t extraordinarily beautiful on an aesthetic level, but playing out from the back to incentivise their pressing wasn’t a great idea. We had a few more long balls, then we got to control the ball more, especially in the second half.”