Ancelotti and his "honeymoon forever" with Real Madrid: "Xabi Alonso has all the doors open"

Carlo Ancelotti maintained his elegance in the Valdebebas press room. The Italian coach, who is approaching his final days as Real Madrid manager, appeared before the Montjuic derby, the decisive match in the fight for La Liga between Barcelona and Real Madrid. He made no announcements about his future, but offered some thoughts on his final days in charge of Real Madrid.

"The honeymoon with Real Madrid never ends; it continues and will continue forever until the last day of my life. It's like in relationships: at first there's a lot of passion, and then other things follow. And nothing more to add. Real Madrid, like Milan, are teams that stay in the heart more than others," said the coach, when asked about recent weeks. "Madrid is a special club that deserves a special attitude, not just from the coach, but from the players, the assistants... It's what I've always tried to do every day."

These statements explain the club's and coach's steps in recent days, with Xabi Alonso's departure from Bayer Leverkusen announced and the club awaiting the Clásico against Barça to officially announce his departure from the Madrid dugout. Both club and coach wanted to wait until the decisive match at Montjuïc to make it public, while Alonso is already waiting for his opportunity. "I've read that Xabi is leaving Bayer Leverkusen; he's done a fantastic job. All doors are open to him; he's proven to be one of the best coaches in the world," the Italian praised.

Regarding the match, which Madrid heads into with a four-point deficit over Barcelona, ​​Ancelotti stated that "Rodrygo and Güler have a chance" of starting at Montjuic and that "what's happening around us hasn't affected us."

"It's not that complicated to prepare for these types of matches; there's no need to motivate. You have to give them the clearest possible idea of ​​how to play, and what's happening around us this week hasn't affected us at all; we've had zero problems. We're feeling good and very confident," he explained about the match, noting that it's "the last Clásico of the season because Barcelona won't be in the Club World Cup."