Carlo Ancelotti, the coach for Real Madrid, claimed on Tuesday that Pep Guardiola’s teammate Pep Guardiola had purposefully underappreciated the English team’s chances of making it to the Champions League last 16.
Before the play-off round second leg on Wednesday at the Santiago Bernabeu, European champions Madrid are 3-2 ahead of City, who have struggled this season and are fourth in the Premier League.
After beating Newcastle 4-0 on Saturday, Guardiola claimed City, the reigning champion of England, only had a one-percent chance of defeating the record-eighteen European Cup winners.
Do you really believe you have a one-percent chance of winning the game? He doesn’t really believe that. I’ll ask him that question before the game tomorrow. Ancelotti told a news conference.
“He really thinks they’ve got more chance than that… we don’t think we have 99 percent chance.
We believe we have a small advantage to exploit and will work together to play the same game as we did in the first game, which turned out well.
READ ALSO:  ,]UCL] Guardiola Says Man City Have ‘ One Per Cent ‘ Chance At Real Madrid
Antonio Rudiger, a defender, was already injured, but coach Angelotti said Lucas Vazquez would start only on the bench.
Following some contentious decisions that were made against his team in recent La Liga matches, the coach expressed his frustration with Spanish refereeing.
Ancelotti said he felt more at ease using Champions League refereeing.
” Statistics speak for themselves, in Europe there’s less controversy in this sense, there are less VAR interventions, “said Ancelotti.
The VAR only intervenes when necessary, and the quality of the referees in the Champions League is typically very high.
During Madrid’s 1-1 draw at Osasuna on Saturday, England international Jude Bellingham was shown a yellow card for dissention.
Bellingham’s team-mate Federico Valverde said he did not want the midfielder to change his ways.
Valverde told reporters, “I always want him to be like that, and I want players who leave their souls out on the pitch,” Valverde continued.
” Jude is a player who shows character, who always wants to win, who always wants to fight.
“This time he got a red card, but I like that he’s giving everything, his spikiness… we have to stay united as a team”.
Source: Channels TV
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