Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti has backed Manchester City to defend their UEFA Champions League title.
City landed their first-ever Champions League title after beating Inter Milan 1-0 in last season’s final.
Pep Guardiola’s men became the second English team to win the treble after Manchester United achieved the feat in 1999.
City were responsible for Madrid’s ouster in last season’s competition after a 5-1 aggregate win in the semi-finals.
Speaking in his presser ahead of Madrid’s opener against Union Berlin on Wednesday, Ancelotti explained that City are favourites because they kept the core of players that won the title.
“City are favourites because they have a squad that saw them to win it last season and they haven’t changed much,” the Italian said on realmadrid.com. However in the Champions League, like always, there are surprises at the end.
“Real Madrid are a team that are going to fight until the end. We never think of ourselves as favourites, just as I think City don’t. They won it last year, they can win the Champions League. They won last year, you could say they are the favourites.”
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Commenting on Union Berlin, Ancelotti highlighter what makes the German outfit a good team.
“They’re a new team in the Champions League but the fact they’re here means they’ve done very well. They’re well organised defensively, they’re solid and they play with intensity.”
However, he stated that they have a good knowledge of them.
“We’ve studied them carefully and hopefully we can put in a good performance tomorrow.”
Union Berlin will be making their debut in Europe’s elite club competition.
Aside Madrid, they will battle it out with Serie A champions Napoli and Sporting Braga.
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