Former Real Madrid Coach Carlo Ancelotti rated losing the derby 4-0 to Atletico Madrid as a worse experience than defeat in the 2005 Champions League final.
Ancelotti was in charge of Milan when they lost on penalties to Liverpool despite having taken a 3-0 lead, only to be pegged back and eventually beaten in a shootout.
Ancelotti admitted in an interview with the Daily Mail that the results recorded in his final season at Madrid may not have been up to scratch, but added every team goes through a barren year.
“Listen, you are judged on the results but you cannot win every single year. Certainly not in Spain where you have the best team in the world in Barcelona. You have a third team, in Atletico, that is also very competitive,” he argued.
“Madrid was the hardest job. More pressure even than Milan. Was losing to Liverpool in 2005 my worst experience? Try losing 4-0 in the Madrid derby.
“That season we had a run of 22 wins in succession but it was all forgotten on February 7 when we lost 4-0 to Atletico.
“If the manager doesn’t win at Madrid he is sacked. Had I not won La Decima I would have been sacked a year earlier but I knew this when I took the job. I could have decided not to sign but Real Madrid is the most important club in the world.”
Ancelotti elaborated on his exit from Madrid, revealing how the termination went down.
“The president and the general director came to see me but I knew it was coming. They had not been talking to me about the future. I could sense it was coming,” he revealed.
‘I don’t ask why, but then that is how I am. I like to be calm.”
