Liverpool and Real Madrid face off in a repeat of last year’s Champions League final later this month.
Carlo Ancelotti and Jurgen Klopp are both under pressure (Image: Getty)
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Carlo Ancelotti is reportedly facing the sack at Real Madrid if he fails to deliver the Club World Cup this week, potentially leaving the Spanish giants searching for a manager when they face Liverpool later this month. It was just in May last year when both Real and Liverpool were flying high at the top of European football.
The Spanish outfit came out on top in last year’s Champions League final as Liverpool missed agonisingly missed out on winning an unprecedented quadruple. For Ancelotti, he’d secured the golden double having led Real to glory in La Liga as well.
But all that momentum has been lost over the past few months with Real now slipping eight points behind Barcelona at the top of the table. They lost the Super Copa to Barcelona last month, but last week’s defeat to Mallorca has added even more pressure on Ancelotti to turn things around.
There’s similar pressure on Klopp at Liverpool with the Reds in disarray after being knocked out of both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup along with dreadful results in the league. Both Real and Liverpool will be in need of a boost when the Champions League returns and the two sides face off on February 21 at Anfield.
Carlo Ancelotti will be under pressure to win the Club World Cup (Image: Getty)
But Ancelotti may be out of a job by that point, according to Spanish outlet Relevo. It’s claimed that Real officials are losing faith in Ancelotti’s ability to turn things around at the Bernabeu.
And if the Italian coach fails to win the Club World Cup this week then he could face the chop. Ancelotti made reference to the importance of the Club World Cup this week with Real facing off against Egyptian league leaders Al Ahly on Wednesday.
“The Club World Cup is a very important event. To get here means you have done well,” he said. “We have a lot of fans here and we want to make them happy. Winning would mean a new impetus for what’s to come.
“In Morocco, they have shown us all their affection. The facilities are fine, the weather is good… We are delighted to be here. We’ll be here for a week and it would be great if we can go back to Madrid with the title”.
But Ancelotti will have to go for silverware without a number of his regular starters with Thibaut Courtois, Karim Benzema, Ferland Mendy and Eder Militao not travelling with the squad. The winners of the match between Real and Al Ahly will take on either Flamengo or Al-Hilal in the final on Saturday.
Source: express.co.uk
