Carlo Ancelotti Confesses to Employing Sunday League Tactic Against Chelsea

Carlo Ancelotti disclosed that his team rehearsed a strategy to defeat Chelsea in the Champions League, which is commonly associated with Sunday League rather than the highest level of European football.

When Real Madrid faced Chelsea in the quarter-finals, it wasn't exactly the most difficult match-up they have encountered in their preferred competition.

Real Madrid secured victory against English opposition for the fourth successive knockout round, and their win was partially aided by Wesley Fofana's lack of concentration in the first leg as he was reportedly preoccupied reading a note instead of defending.

Frank Lampard's team didn't fare much better in the second game, and things seemed to be off to a bad start even before kick-off as the club forgot to play the Champions League anthem.

Shocking defending from the west Londoners resulted in their loss to Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge in the second game, with the same 2-0 scoreline as their defeat in the first leg.

Despite their attempt to secure their 15th European title this season, Real Madrid's performance against Chelsea was not exceptional.

Real Madrid didn't have to exert themselves too much and were occasionally careless, but they always seemed to keep Frank Lampard's men at bay without much difficulty.

Ancelotti has now confessed that Real Madrid practiced having Fede Valverde take a shot straight from kick-off, which is the type of move you would usually anticipate seeing in a Sunday league match.

"We have seen in recent games that Kepa at the beginning of the game was on the penalty spot," the former Blues boss told MARCA about the tactic.

"We thought that with a long shot from Valverde, we could score.

"We tried to work a lot on set pieces, less defensively because we defend in the zone."

In the end, Valverde didn't actually attempt the long distance effort, presumably deciding that Kepa wasn't far enough of his line to shoot.

But it didn't matter at all, with Los Blancos progressing to the semi-finals, where they will meet Manchester City, for the second year in-a-row at that stage.

Whichever club gets to the final will be favourites, with the Milan derby on the other side of the draw, but fans won't be happy with how much they have to pay.

Once again, supporters have been short-changed with only 20,000 tickets for each club, and they'll have to pay upwards of €690 for the privilege of seeing their team.