“It will be an intense match. Congratulations to Athletic Club for reaching the Europa League semifinals. They are an intense team, they play well. Our team has had time to prepare and tomorrow we want to stay in the fight for the league”.
“We are all on the same page, continuing to fight for the titles we are still in. We are hurt by being knocked out of the most important competition. But these things can happen in football, you can’t always win”.
“There is no kind of conflict with the club, because we are all in the same boat — in good times and bad. Anyone who talks about conflict is lying, because it’s not true. It’s deceiving people” (a phrase Ancelotti repeated at the end of the press conference, clearly wanting to emphasize his message).
“The president shows even more support in difficult moments than when we win”.
“To question a club that has won almost 27–30 titles in 11 years seems like misleading people — that’s what bothers me. But I’m not at all worried about being questioned personally”.
“An evaluation for the future has to be made at the end of the season. But while we are still competing for major titles — the league, the Copa del Rey, and the first-ever Club World Cup — we’ll obviously talk about it at the end of the season. Today I don’t want to talk about my future”.
“I just want to thank all these players, because we’ve had a great time so far and I hope it continues. They’ve given me the chance to win 2 Champions Leagues in the last 4 years”.
“We need to get back to having positive feelings. We’ve conceded too many goals in recent matches — we need to regain defensive solidity in this final stretch of the season”.
Squad list for the match against Athletic Club:
Goalkeepers: Courtois, Lunin y Fran González.
Defenders: Alaba, Lucas V., Vallejo, Fran García, Rüdiger y Asencio.
Midfielders: Bellingham, Camavinga, Valverde, Modrić, Tchouameni, Arda Güler y Ceballos.
Forwards: Vini Jr., Rodrygo, Endrick y Brahim.