LA LIGA - Real Madrid boss Ancelotti: "I'm not thinking about La Decimocuarta yet"

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Ahead of upcoming Champions League match against Inter Milan, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti stated:

"Quality and commitment are important things and we're demonstrating that. The good run we're on is down to these elements. Sometimes quality is outstanding compared to commitment and sometimes it's the other way around.
 
It's the history and tradition of this club, which is still the best club in the world and has won more titles, especially in Europe, thanks to this type of demands. If you play for Real Madrid you have think like this. It's true that we celebrated and enjoyed la Décima, but we weren't content and had to carry on because that's what this club and the fans demand from you.
 
Winning la Decimocuarta? I'm not thinking about that yet. I'm planning on keeping this good run going and preparing matches and the strategy.  We're looking forward to tomorrow's game because it's at the Bernabéu against strong team that's playing well. It's a Champions League match and we want to win it. It's difficult to reach the end of this competition, but that's the objective. In the end or in the final, because if you want to win the Champions League you have to reach the final first.

I can't say if we're favourites or not. I can tell you that we will compete against all these teams thanks to the quality we've got. That's all, then we have to wait and see because if you want to win this competition you have to play against the best teams in the world. If your aim is to go all the way in this competition, it doesn't make much difference if you meet a strong team or not in the last 16 or quarter-finals, you have to compete. I don't know if we're going to win or not, but we're going to compete.

It's a high profile game for us for the reasons I said before. We're playing against a team that is playing very well and then we're playing for first place, that's important. Thirdly, we're playing at home with our fans. These are three important reasons to watch the match that I think will be interesting.

I want to demonstrate that I work well to help the team win. Personally I don't have to prove anything to anyone. I think that I've got a very young technical team and young people, like footballers, bring a lot of enthusiasm and a desire to learn new things. I feel very comfortable with this coaching team, because we combine the enthusiasm that they have and the experience that I have.

Militão is more positionally focused. He's improved a lot tactically. He has top individual qualities, he's very strong in the air, very strong in one-on-ones and he's imporived the partnership with Alaba and how he plays with the others in defence. Alaba fit in quickly because he's an intelligent player. He's adapted very well, he wanted to be a part of this team and he's doing very well. Since he's a very intelligent player, he combines very well with the others in defence.

It's not easy to compare because each year has its own unique story. It's true that in the second year at Real Madrid we weren't successful, but we came close because we got to a semi-final and came within one or two points of winning the league. The decisive factor was a period between January and February when things didn't go well, and part of that was the injury to Luka Modrić, who wasn't able to play much. Every year is diffierent and you can't compare them.

Brozovic is one of Inter's main players, but it's not just him. Inter are a team that moves well, and Brozović is very important. How do we stop him? We're definitely considering that, to have control in the defensive phase and in the attacking phase. I don't know what to say about my experience in Naples, it was my job to be in the Champions League. The Madrid derby? It's obvious that the priority is today. Today we're playing the game against Inter and not against Atlético, that will come on Sunday".