• Chronicle Madrid beats Chelsea and shows that its only regime is the Champions League
  • Protagonist Rodrygo and a celebration "for my idol Cristiano Ronaldo" for the historic 11 of 13 of Real Madrid
  • Opinion Frankly, it's Madrid

On the hands of Thibaut Courtois and the feet of Rodrygo Goes, Carlo Ancelotti built his fourth Champions League semi-final as Real Madrid coach in as many seasons. Four out of four. A perfection that forces us to believe that he will continue at the Santiago Bernabéu next year, elevated to the altars of madridismo for what the club most longs for every September: the European Cup. Carletto, who has won only one league in four seasons, has seasoned his contract with the bench of Chamartín with two 'orejonas', a semifinal lost against Juventus and another that will face Manchester City or Bayern Munich. "We do our thing," he replied yesterday on the lawn of Stamford Bridge, happy for his Madrid and Milan and sad for his Naples.

It's what it takes to have a professional career as broad as that of the Italian, that you end up having more pasts than you can control. His statistic of 4 semifinals in 4 seasons with Madrid is completed with the 9 semifinals he accumulates in the 17 seasons he has participated as a coach in the Champions League. 1 with Juventus in two years, 4 in 6 with Milan and 4 in 4 against Madrid. He left empty in the only edition he played with Parma, in the two he tried with Chelsea and the only options he had with PSG and Bayern. 9 of 17. 53% of the time he plays the Champions League, Ancelotti puts his team in the top 4 of the competition.

Ancelotti has traveled a European path with Madrid that has not been easy, no matter how many jokes with the 'hot balls' that his detractors may make. In 2014 they eliminated Schalke, Dortmund and Bayern and beat Atlético in the final; in 2015 they again beat Schalke and Atletico, but fell to Juventus in the semis; last year he passed over PSG, Chelsea, City and Liverpool and this year he has repeated with the 'reds' and the 'blues', showing the world, and especially the Premier League, who rules in continental football.

After the punctures, Anfield, Camp Nou and London

This season, in addition, Carletto has been overcoming the crises and fears that accumulated around him and tormented Chamartín: the punctures in the League that have delivered the title on a plate to Barça, the defeat in the Arabian Super Cup, the doubts and the memory of the spring of 2015 ... Now, and despite the league failure, a hypothetical victory in the final of the Copa del Rey (first final of the tournament in 8 years) and the European semifinals seem their lifeline.

Ancelotti will arrive on the return from Munich or Manchester with an ace in his pocket: the card of comebacks. After a 21-22 course full of turns to the scoreboard, Madrid has managed to stand in the semifinals with the only scare of the first quarter of an hour at Anfield Road, where it was 2-0 down before sentencing the tie with 2-5. The miracle is still up the sleeve of the Italian, who in the middle of the rumors about his future and while the environment murmured the names of the candidates to replace him, has won 2-5 at Anfield, 0-4 at the Camp Nou and 0-2 at Stamford Bridge. 11 goals that leave him closer to two titles.

Veterans and novices

The 4 European semifinals of Ancelotti with Madrid have common protagonists. Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema have been in all of them, being a luxury accompaniment in the first and leaders of the dressing room in the second. 33, 37 and 35 years old have the German, Croatian and French, untouchable for Carletto in the most important moments of the season. The 105 years that add up between the three are far from the 68 that accumulate between Fede Valverde (24), Vinicius Júnior (22) and Rodrygo Goes (22). Four decades of difference that, thanks to the management of Ancelotti, not only are not noticed on the field but enhance an unstoppable Madrid in Europe. "Veterans and novices," the hymn goes. Between the 3 youngsters they manufactured the 0-2 of London while the veterans watched from the bench. The same thing happened in the last Champions League, with Vinicius' goal in the final through Valverde.

That ability to build the future Madrid, developing the young promises captured by the technical direction, while continuing to compete (and win) titles is the greatest virtue of Ancelotti, who has also made Eduardo Camavinga (20 years old) indisputable. A work that summarizes the historical data with which Madrid left London: 11 semifinals in the last 13 seasons.

  • Vinicius Junior
  • Luka Modric
  • Karim Benzema
  • Rodrygo Goes
  • Thibaut Courtois
  • Carlo Ancelotti
  • Real Madrid

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