Carlo Ancelotti gives Pep Guardiola hint that could go in Chelsea’s favour vs Real Madrid

Chelsea have a chance of going through to the Champions League semi-final but it all hinges on Carlo Ancelotti’s thought process.

The last time a manager was caught overthinking against Chelsea, they lost their Champions League final. Carlo Ancelotti could be on his way to making that same mistake.

It’s unlike the Italian to freeze and make mistakes on the big stage. He has won Europe’s most elite competition three times after all. The only manager to do so in different clubs if I may add.

However, Pep Guardiola was unable to unlock Chelsea’s puzzle last season after overthinking his starting lineup. Being one of the greatest managers in the game, it just goes to show that anyone can mess it up at the last minute.

Ahead of Chelsea’s visit to the Bernabau, Carlo Ancelotti stressed the importance of having to play in a ‘different way’. He said: “We would like to play the same game of the last week but we know Chelsea will change something. We will have to play in a different way.”

The way Real Madrid played last week was enough to see the Los Blancos take home a 2 goal advantage. Karim Benzema gave the blues a strikers classic. He secured the hat-trick on the night and may be able to do the same in the return fixture. If Ancelotti decides to keep things the way it was.

To be honest, I wouldn’t mind the Italian mixing things up a bit. Maybe shaking up his starting line up. The possibility of him making the error to bench the likes of Luka Modric is mouth-wateringly tasty from a Chelsea fan perspective. Whilst Benzema was the name on the headlines, the Croatian was the real mastermind that gave the Blues the most trouble.

It’s always a midfield battle when it comes to Chelsea. If we are in control, we usually win the games. It’s just how it goes when you have Jorginho pulling the strings. Taking that control away from us will keep Real Madrid ahead in this tie. But making changes could cost them. Just ask Pep Guardiola.

The brave decision to play the Blues in the Champions League final without a defensive midfielder present proved to be an awful choice for the Manchester City manager. He is notorious for overthinking the big nights in Europe but he was caught up with what Chelsea might do. The fact was that Thomas Tuchel made little changes to his usual starting lineup and style of football and he still walked away with the win.

As I mentioned before, Carlo Ancelotti isn’t known to make mistakes on the big stage. But with any luck, he could make a costly decision in anticipation of Chelsea making ‘changes’.

Time will tell. The lineup and the first 15 minutes of the game will determine whether or not Ancelotti’s plan will work or whether it was just a case off mind games.