“He is his inspiration, he is unstoppable at the moment, sometimes they stop him, but he continues, continues, continues…”, Ancelotti said at the press conference prior to the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.
The Brazilian “is a player who plays with incredible continuity,” added the Merengue coach, while defender David Alaba praised the offensive duo he forms with Real Madrid captain Karim Benzema.
“They are a great couple, you can see it every day in training and every weekend on the field,” said Alaba, for whom “they are very great and we are very happy to have them in the team.”
The Merengue attacking pair have scored more goals this season than all Chelsea players, but Ancelotti cautions against the temptation to underestimate the opposition.
“Last year we suffered a lot,” recalled the Real Madrid coach, referring to the Champions League quarterfinals, in which Chelsea came back from 3-1 down and almost qualified for the semifinals.
“We have to respect this team because it has very good players. It’s not going through a good moment, but in these types of matches you have such great motivation that you bring out the best,” Ancelotti said.
“We don’t underestimate Chelsea. They are a great team and we have to stay focused,” Alaba said.
Ancelotti assured that he is “sad (for the situation of the English team). I have wonderful memories of this club, of the people who continue to work there, I am a Chelsea fan because I spent two good years there.”
Ancelotti ruled out returning to Stamford Bridge as coach and assured that “Lampard is going to be able to do something great with them. He arrived a week ago and he’s going to do well for as long as he stays at Chelsea.”
“He’s been a great player, a fantastic professional, he knows what can happen in these matches, how to prepare a team for this type of match,” said Ancelotti, who wants to get the tie in Madrid on track.
“We have to take advantage of the fact that we’re playing the first game at home to take advantage and manage the second leg (at Stamford Bridge) better, which is the decisive game,” said the Italian coach.
“We are focused on playing a complete game, for that we have to defend better than against Villarreal (3-2 defeat on Saturday in the League) and attack like against Barcelona (4-0 win in the Copa del Rey last Wednesday)”, explained Ancelotti.