One is an electric battery, the other a Zen master, but Jürgen Klopp and Carlo Ancelotti share the unanimous affection for their players and a sense of attention to detail that has led to Liverpool and Real Madrid to be able to fight for the title on Saturday in the Champions League final.
Four years after the final was won (3-1) by Zidane’s Real Madrid, the two teams meet again after two successful seasons.
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Ancelotti pays off in his second time in Madrid
Arrived in the summer of 2021 to replace ‘Zizou’, Ancelotti has fulfilled his mission: after a blank season, Real dominated the League, won the Spanish Super Cup and dreams of his fourteenth European Cup. The veteran Italian coach immediately won over the locker room with his good nature and frankness.
“The players are my friends,” Ancelotti said after Real Madrid’s 35th LaLiga celebration, when a photo of him wearing sunglasses and a cigar hit the internet. But if his method, based on his intrinsic human qualities, his talent for relationships or his foolproof calmness, has not changed, he does not hide an infinite thirst for victory. In such a way that at 62 years old, Ancelotti does not believe “he is from an old generation” and claims to follow “closely the changes in football”.
In Valdebebas, at the Real Madrid training center, he relies on a technical team that mixes experienced figures, such as the physical trainer Antonio Pintus, and young talents, such as his own son Davide Ancelotti, who is going to pass his UEFA Pro exam .
“We have been able to create a good atmosphere in Valdebebas (…) when you work in an environment with good dynamics you are able to achieve the most,” he explained on Tuesday.
Become the only coach with this League to have won the five major European championships, he could also be the first coach to lift a fourth ‘Orejona’ after the two Champions won with AC Milan (2003, 2007) and another with Real ( 2014).
“I am not obsessed with individual titles. I would be satisfied with that, but it is not the most important thing. When I stop training I could say that I have won four Champions Leagues, but now it doesn’t obsess me,” he said.
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Klopp: six and a half years as a symbol of Liverpool
Opposite, you will have a Jürgen Klopp famous for his exacerbated reactions on the band and his celebrations in front of the Reds fans after each victory. Arrived six and a half years ago, Klopp recently renewed until 2026 and his symbiosis is total with this club steeped in history and its fervent public, as well as his influence on sports policy, thanks to phenomenal results such as winning the Champions League of 2019.
On Saturday they will play their third Champions League final in five years and if Manchester City has won four of the last five Premier titles, two of them with an advantage over the Reds, Liverpool won the 2020, the first in 30 years.
Assisted by Pep Lijnders, in charge of training content, and by Peter Krawietz, his tactical ‘eye’, he knows his group very well but is always looking to refine any detail.
Following great work from a committed manager, Liverpool have made great progress in set pieces this season, with neuroscientists working on decision-making. The 11 penalties scored out of 11 in the shootout that decided the League Cup final and the 6 out of 7 in the FA Cup, with two titles won over Chelsea, are not luck.
The 63 games out of a possible 63 that Liverpool will have played this season, either. Benefiting for once from four weeks of concentration last summer, Klopp had prepared his team like never before, with medical follow-up to avoid any injury.
Whatever comes after Klopp is something that inspires the worst fears at the club. “It would not have been possible to win it (the 2019 Champions League) without the coach,” captain Jordan Henderson recently recalled.
“Liverpool fans should enjoy Jürgen Klopp. I think there is one (like him) in a million, he is that good,” said Steven Gerrard, captain of the Reds when Klopp arrived, and who is aiming to succeed him one day. .
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All the clashes between Klopp and Ancelotti
The Champions League final will be the eleventh meeting between Ancelotti and Klopp. The first two were in the 2013-14 season, when the Italian had his first stint at Real Madrid and the German was in charge of Borussia Dortmund. The Whites advanced to the Champions League semi-final after winning 3-0 at the Bernabéu and losing 2-0 at Signal Iduna Park.
In the 2018-19 season they crossed paths again in the Champions League, this time, in the group stage: Ancelotti, directing Napoli, and Klopp, already at Liverpool. Each team won 1-0 at their stadium.
Klopp’s Liverpool and Ancelotti’s Napoli met again in the group stage of the 2019-20 Champions League. This time, the balance was favorable to the Italian club, who won 2-0 at San Paolo and equalized 1-1 at Anfield.
Following his move to Everton, Ancelotti faced Klopp four times in the Merseyside derby. In the FA Cup, Liverpool won 1-0. And in three league games, there were two draws (0-0 and 2-2) and one victory for Everton (0-1).
The balance of the previous ten matches slightly favors Ancelotti, who obtained four wins against three for Klopp, plus three draws.
SPORTS
with AFP
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