Carlo Ancelotti praised Luka Modric and Toni Kroos after the veteran midfielders starred in Actual Madrid’s 1-0 Champions League round-of-16 win over Liverpool on Wednesday.
Karim Benzema scored within the 78th minute with Vinicius Junior offering the help as holders Madrid overcame final yr’s crushed finalists Liverpool 6-2 on mixture to qualify for the quarterfinals.
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Ancelotti mentioned the shows of midfielders Modric and Kroos — whose contracts are each at the moment resulting from expire this summer season — in addition to teenager Eduardo Camavinga had been key to Madrid’s management of the sport.
“We’re a contemporary crew. Soccer these days calls for collective dedication, particular person high quality, vitality and expertise,” the Italian coach mentioned in his post-match information convention. “Modric and Kroos performed properly immediately. The crew might have been afraid to have the ball to keep away from their press, however they did properly and we managed the sport.”
“The environment is created by the gamers,” Ancelotti added. “The humility of the veterans is the important thing, they haven’t any ego. The children are affected person, understanding they’ve gamers with incredible careers forward of them. However Modric and Kroos do not play due to the careers they’ve had, they play as a result of they deserve it.”
Ancelotti mentioned Benzema had suffered “some discomfort” after scoring, however could be accessible for Sunday’s LaLiga Clasico with Barcelona — echoing the sooner phrases of Benzema himself, who described it as “a knock” — and described Vinicius as the most effective participant on this planet proper now.
“He’s, for me,” Ancelotti mentioned. “He did not rating immediately however he was decisive, he offered the help and every time that he took a participant on, he was harmful.”
Madrid’s win noticed them be part of Manchester Metropolis, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Napoli, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Benfica within the quarterfinal draw, which is able to happen on Friday.
