For a man who never played against them and didn't coach a team against them until he was fully 15 years into his managerial career, it might seem strange how absolutely obsessed Carlo Ancelotti once was with Liverpool FC.
When Real Madrid's Italian manager takes his Spanish, European and World champions to Anfield this Tuesday, he can either reflect fondly on that first visit to the home of the Kop — a 2-0 win in charge of Chelsea in 2010 — or on Vinicius' winner in last season's Champions League final against Jurgen Klopp's team. What he won't spend time recalling, but you may not know about, is him and his Milan squad chanting the Anfield anthem «You'll Never Walk Alone» to the television while willing and praying Liverpool to win a Champions League semifinal, and doing it as fervently as any «Red» Scouser.
There's obviously an explanation.
Real Madrid's manager missed his only opportunity to play Liverpool thanks to a knee injury when his then-team, Roma, faced them in the 1984 European Cup (Champions League) final. That night, in Rome's Olympic Stadium, Liverpool keeper Bruce Grobbelaar produced his infamous «spaghetti legs» antics until Ancelotti's teammates missed sufficient penalties in the shootout for the Reds to lift the cup.
Ancelotti described the Liverpool keeper as «the hysterical dancer» and then, 21 years later, Ancelotti's AC Milan had played what he called «perfect football» to lead Liverpool 3-0 at half-time of the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul. You know what happened next: Milan kissed their dominant lead goodbye within six wild second-half minutes and then watched Jerzy Dudek produce Grobbelaar-style antics during the penalty shootout until Liverpool, again, lifted the very trophy the
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