Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said his team’s performances were far from perfect on their journey to Saturday’s Champions League final against Liverpool, but they managed to get there due to grit in the decisive moments.
“We haven’t displayed exceptional quality in our play, but no one has beaten us in terms of commitment,” he told a news conference in Madrid.
“Commitment and motivation is not enough to win it, but you have to have it in the final. No one deserves to win a final, however — you have to earn it with what we do in the big game, not before.”
Ancelotti said his team was “calm and motivated” and Kylian Mbappe’s decision to stay with Paris Saint-Germain instead of moving to Real had not created a distraction in the locker-room.
The players’ experience, going into their fifth Champions League final in eight years, could also be an advantage, he added.
“Some of the players could be teaching me how to play a final, they have played more decisive games than me,” Ancelotti said with a smile ahead of his record-breaking fifth Champions League final.
“The locker room speech will be easy for me, I don’t even need to say anything for them. They know how to prepare better than most because of what they have lived through in the last years.”
Despite being the first coach to win European football’s top trophy three times with different clubs and on the verge of leapfrogging Zinedine Zidane and Bob Paisley to become the first to win four, Ancelotti said this season it was harder for him to control his emotions in the final hours ahead of big games.