Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid must overturn a three-goal deficit against Arsenal at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu on Wednesday, if they’re to qualify for the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.
Two stunning free-kicks from Declan Rice in North London put the Gunners on course for a 3-0 win last week, and ahead of a must-win tie in the Spanish capital, Ancelotti admitted that “we’ll need to play a game at our highest level to try and change a tie that, today, looks very complicated.”
Real Madrid have reached the final four of the UEFA Champions League in each of the past four seasons, with their round-of-16 defeat to Manchester City in 2019/20 the last time they failed to qualify for the semi-finals.
Ahead of Wednesday’s match, which will be played under a closed roof after UEFA granted the club’s request, Ancelotti revealed that he spoke to his players “about the emotional aspect of the game, about motivation, and about how you have to approach these games as a professional.”
“I hope that the players are calm and convinced that they can try everything. We don’t know if we can turn this tie around, but the only certainty we have is that we’re going to give the best version of ourselves.”
“What we want to do is try and change the mindset and play a serious game,” he told reporters during Tuesday’s press conference, adding that “cool heads will be very important to keep good control of the game.”
As for whether scoring early will be key to negating Arsenal’s undoubtable confidence after such an impressive first leg victory, the 65-year-old was clear that he does “not think it’ll be definitive, although it’s an important part of our game.”
“The most important thing is to have good control and to try to do our very best, right from the start. When you’ve got good control of the game, you can score in any moment.”
Real Madrid v Arsenal gets underway at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu at 20:00 BST [21:00 CEST] on Wednesday, 16 April. Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal hold a three-goal advantage from the first leg.
