On Wednesday night, spectators at Anfield will witness another showdown between Liverpool and Real Madrid, the teams that played last year’s Champions League title against each other. By all accounts, this will be a glorious series of duels between Alison and Thibaut Courtois, Karim Benzema and Virgil van Dijk, Vinicius Junior and Trent Alexander-Arnold, David Alaba and Mohamed Salah, Luka Modric and Fabinho…
Everyone in these matches will have to give it their all. But for trainers, this is a great opportunity to meet a good friend. It’s not every day you come across coaches who greet each other with such warmth and sincerity.
“Carlo is the calmest coach I have ever met in my life. Him and he one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Fantastic person, humble and very nice. Obviously, his work is of the first level and I have a lot of respect and admiration for him, ”said the German at a pre-match press conference.
And here are the words of Papa Carlo: “We have a good relationship. We spent a year and a half together in Liverpool during the pandemic. We corresponded and exchanged gifts. He is a very nice person”. The journalists specified what kind of gift it was, and Ancelotti admitted that it was an electronic cigarette. It is even a pity that after winning the final she smoked a cigar, she did not. It would be very symbolic .
And don’t call them old friends. As the Italian noted, they began to actively communicate only when covid was rampant. At the same time, the seed of friendship was born in the fall of 2019, when Liverpool and Napoli met in the group stage of the Champions League. Before the match in Naples, Ancelotti praised his colleague so much that at first he decided that it was just a trick of an experienced Italian.
“I like Carlo, I respect him a lot. He was a world class player and obviously a world class coach. But, as we say in Germany, he’s obviously a cunning fox. Saying all these positive things about us, saying all these good things about me before the game, it’s good. But this is a tactic – he’s been in the business for so long and he’s trying to get me to a good guy,” the Merseysiders mentor said.
But already after that game, which ended in a 2-0 victory for the hosts, they sincerely shook hands and smiled. The Neapolitan mentor approached his counterpart in the middle of the field and told her: “Don’t worry. If you lost in Naples, in the end you will win the Champions League. However, the forecast did not come true, Liverpool unfairly flew out of Atletico in the 1/8 final, but after that Klopp saw a kind comrade instead of a cunning fox.
So what awaits us at Anfield tonight is a rivalry not without wit, but full of respect and admiration from the generals of both armies. And no matter who, following the results of this matchup, goes further, the loser will definitely wish him to win the Champions League again.
MEETING HISTORY
On the field, the teams of Klopp and Ancelotti met 11 times. The first of them took place in the spring of 2014, Real and Borussia met in the quarterfinals of the Champions League (the creamy went further: 3:0 and 0:2).
The German led Borussia D and Liverpool, the Italian led Napoli, Everton and Real Madrid. So far, the statistics are in favor of Ancelotti with 5 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses. At the same time, Klopp does not know a victory over his counterpart in the last four games: two losses and two draws. And this despite the fact that in three of these games Ancelotti led Everton seriously inferior.
