With Barca on Real’s mind, Pool can spring a surprise
Bob Paisley managed it in the old days and since the European Cup became the Champions League eight men have won it while winning the league title as well. But serial European winner Carlo Ancelotti is not among them.
Ancelotti has always found it hard to compete on both fronts at the same time. In 2005 his star-studded Milan side blew up in the league as well as in Istanbul. Two years later when Milan were revenged against Liverpool in Athens they finished 28 points adrift in Serie A - 36 if you include the eight points deducted for their part in the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal.
Last season, all seemed to be going well for Ancelotti right up until Real Madrid’s stunning 4-0 win in Munich. They broke their historic hoodoo on German soil, and then promptly dropped seven points in seven days, effectively handing the title to Atletico.
The group stage brings nothing like those pressures of course, but switching tournaments is rarely simple, so not too much blame should be attached to Brendan Rodgers if his players are struggling for form.
It is particularly hard to achieve continuity when the early part of the season is interrupted by international breaks as it has been. Here Madrid's experience, as well as Ancelotti's, is a definite advantage.
They have been in scintillating form after a their poor start. Not perfect – they like Liverpool made heavy weather of beating group outsiders Ludogorets – but 32 goals in their last seven matches is impressive.
Ancelotti will miss the pace of Gareth Bale at Anfield, and Luka Modric took a knock in Saturday’s game, but against Levante their midfield options looked so good that such absences seem irrelevant. Admittedly the contest was a mismatch, even as a sparring session. Inside the first ten minutes alone Cristiano Ronaldo spurned a couple of good chances and he still ended up with two goals.
There will be two preoccupations for Ancelotti tomorrow night.
One is his defence, the other Saturday’s showdown with Barcelona.
Madrid still have four players from the last time they appeared at Anfield, the 4-0 debacle in 2009, their heaviest Champions League defeat. All of them are in defence. None of them has improved. Sergio Ramos was one of those involved back then, and of late he’s sometimes looked better as an attacking option than in defence, even when fit.
Iker Casillas and Pepe were also in that side; Marcelo was a second-half sub. If Raphael Varane hasn’t recovered from his bout of flu Madrid will be vulnerable against pace, even though Sami Khedira, rested against Levante, is good at protecting his centre backs.
Liverpool are having their own problems at the back, as demonstrated all too clearly in Sunday’s match against QPR. This definitely could be one of those games for the neutral.
Ancelotti has obviously said he’s not thinking about Barcelona, and equally obviously this claim is not to be believed. Even in the best of circumstances that match would be on his mind, but Barcelona’s perfect start in La Liga is already close to leaving Madrid fighting it out in a secondary competition with Valencia, Sevilla and Atletico.
Four points ahead of Madrid, Barcelona have yet to concede a league goal under new coach Luis Enrique. For the Madridistas only one thing could be worse than losing to Barcelona and that’s losing to a Barcelona managed by their former hero who deserted them in favour of Catalonia. And on Saturday Luis Suarez is due to make his debut for Barca alongside Leo Messi and Neymar in the ultimate South American attack.
La Liga is no longer the two-club competition it seemed to be a few years back. Diego Simeone’s breakthrough with Atletico last season has seen to that. But it is hard to see the match at the Bernabeu as anything other than a joust for the title. Ancelotti will be hoping Anfield is not too intense an affair, and with a crowd thirsting for a convincing Liverpool performance against top opposition that just might be the spur for Rodgers and his men to spring a surprise.
