Charles Jackson
LONDON – As Real Madrid close in on their 15th Champions League title, Carlo Ancelotti is convinced there is more than coincidence in his team’s tendency to deliver positive results.
Throughout their history, and in particular in the run of five European Cups over the last nine years, the Spanish champions have rarely spared drama under the lights of the Champions League. His time at Wembley this season had all the usual Real Madrid characteristics: Two goals from Joselu saw defeat for Bayern Munich to victory, a penalty shootout victory away to Manchester City and a dramatic comeback to maintain their lead over RB Leipzig.
Two years earlier, Karim Benzema led the way on the pitch. In the run of three consecutive titles between 2016 and 2018, Cristiano Ronaldo was invariably the man who broke his opponents’ hearts. The names on the shirt may change, but one thing seems inevitable: Real Madrid will score in the end.
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“It’s difficult to answer why,” said Ancelotti at the press conference ahead of his team’s meeting with Borussia Dortmund. “This happens often. There is something special about this club. It will be important to study this.
“There is causality. From what, I don’t know. The history, the traditions, the quality of the players, the character. It’s not a coincidence.”
This winning record puts part of the current team on track to equal records that might have seemed unimaginable a decade ago. Paco Gento holds the record for the most European Cups won by any individual, the total of six he accumulated in the 1950s and 1960s is “something unimaginable” to anyone else, according to Luka Modric. On Saturday, he, Dani Carvajal, Toni Kroos and club captain Nacho managed to equalise.
Ancelotti has already earned his place in the Champions League pantheon. No other manager has lifted the trophy four times. He is 90 minutes away from a fifth. Even after all that team, he feels the nervousness of a newcomer to the big game.
“A final is a final,” he said. “A Champions League final is the most important game and the most dangerous. It’s a double-edged sword. We need to make the most of it and then the worry begins that it could go wrong. We are so close to the most important thing in the game. football , winning a Champions League.
“There is a fear, a certain concern that we all have inside. We are extremely happy to be here, it is difficult to play in a final like this, but you have to be very lucky.
“When you reach a final success it’s so close that you start to worry. It starts tonight, tomorrow morning, a lot of fear. It’s normal. If you are more afraid, you will be happier if you win in the end.”
Real Madrid are the overwhelming favorites to do just that against a Dortmund team whose fairytale run to the Champions League final coincided with a domestic season in which they finished fifth in the Bundesliga. Modric, however, refuses to take that status for granted.
“Everyone thinks we are favorites, but we don’t think so,” he said. “It’s a 50:50 game. We’re going to play against a great team who had a magnificent season in the Champions League. There’s a lot of respect for Borussia.”
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