Years of bad blood can spur on Real Madrid to give Carlo Ancelotti chance at revenge against Bayern Munich

Italian formerly managed Bavarian club and claims he was not supported. He hopes to prevail in deep-seated rivalry again

DON CARLO: Real Madrid's head coach Carlo Ancelotti gestures during a press conference in Madrid. AP Photo/Paul White.

Carlo Ancelotti said he was on the “good side” of European football’s grandest rivalry and, on the eve of the Champions League semi-final second leg between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, revealed the ­Bavarian club did not support him when he was coach.

The Italian, though, insisted he remained friends with Uli ­Hoeness and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the ­former president and chief ­executive ­respectively, and that the Bayern coach, Thomas Tuchel, would think he was on the good side too as the pair prepare for the most tense of ties, which starts level at 2-2. “Today, we enjoy; tomorrow, we will worry,” he said.