Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has warned his players ahead of their Champions League second leg clash against Liverpool that the tie is not over – and used last season’s tie against Chelsea as the perfect example.
The Reds have a mountain to climb in the tie after crashing to a 5-2 defeat in the first leg at Anfield last month. Early goals from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah had appeared to put the hosts in control, but Vinicius Junior and Karim Benzema both netted doubles and Eder Militao was also on the scoresheet.
While Madrid are now huge favourites to advance through to the quarter finals, there is still a long way to go in the tie. Ancelotti highlighted last season’s tie against the Blues, when the Spanish giants secured a 3-1 first leg victory at Stamford Bridge – before almost crashing out.
Chelsea raced into a stunning three-goal lead in the Spanish capital to put them ahead of the tie, before a Madrid fightback saw them eventually advance after extra-time in a pulsating 5-4 aggregate victory. Los Blancos progressed and won the tournament, but it provided a handy lesson.
"We have had the experience of last year against Chelsea," Ancelotti told reporters on Saturday, when speaking about his side’s advantage in their Round of 16 tie ahead of this week’s second leg against Liverpool.
"We had a three-goal advantage, that is why we are and were favourites, but the other fact is that we have to play another 90 minutes.
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"To do that, we have to play with the same attitude as the first leg. We have the advantage, but we can't think of managing the game and the result that we had, we have to play 90 minutes at the top."
While Liverpool prepared for their Champions League clash in the worst possible way as they crashed to defeat at relegation-battling Bournemouth in Saturday’s early kick-off, Real Madrid launched a comeback of their own – coming from a goal down to defeat Espanyol 3-1.
Joselu had given the Catalan side a shock lead at the Santiago Bernabeu before goals from Vinicius Junior, Eder Militao and Marco Asensio saw Ancelotti’s side run out victors.
