After Liverpool lost to Real Madrid in last year’s Champions League final, Carlo Ancelotti would infamously claim the Reds were predictable to play against.
“I think it helped that Liverpool were easier to decipher than the others,” he said in Paris. “Because they have a very clear identity and we could prepare the way that we did. We knew what strategy to take - don’t give them space behind the defence to run into.”
Jurgen Klopp would even reference such a claim nine months on when speaking ahead of the latest meeting between the two clubs in this year’s round-of-16.
