Carlo Ancelotti admits Erling Haaland makes Manchester City ‘complete’

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti says Manchester City have become a “complete” team than the one team beat last season en route to winning the 14th UEFA Champions League title.

Real defeated Pep Guardiola’s side 6-5 on aggregate last season, with Rodryo’s double and Karim Benzema’s extra-time winner guaranteeing a dramatic comeback for the Spaniards, who went on prevail over Liverpool in the final in Paris.

While Ancelotti believes there would be no special plot to halt Erling Haaland, the Italian admits the 51-goal scorer has given the Premier League team a new dimension

Speaking at the Norwegian ahead of Tuesday’s first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, Ancelotti said: “We don’t plan a game to stop one player, it’s to stop a team that is very dangerous.

“Obviously he’s a very dangerous player, he’s showing impressive quality. He’s scoring goals, he’s an obvious danger. But to talk only about Haaland is not to talk about a very solid team, that poses, that creates problems. They look unstoppable, but we have a chance to have a close, competitive game that we can win.

“I think what I can say is that they are a more complete team compared to last year.

“Last year they had a very dangerous striker, who was Gabriel Jesus, and now it’s Haaland, who has different characteristics. He has an important height and he has De Bruyne behind him, who can give him a long ball. It’s a dangerous team.”

Ancelotti also confirmed Luka Modric is ready for the game against the Cityzens after recovering from his injury to feature in the Copa del Rey final win over Osasuna over the weekend.

“He can play without any problem,” the Real boss said. “If he’s well, he’s going to play. So tomorrow he will play.”

“We want to play a complete match. We want to get the best out of ourselves physically, motivationally and technically, bearing in mind that the decisive match will be the second leg. We want to take a small advantage.”