- US defends law forcing sale of TikTok app
- Messi out for defending champ Miami as Leagues Cup begins
- Australia bans uranium mining at Indigenous site
- Divers attempt to reach sunken Philippine oil tanker
- Trump accuses Harris of anti-Semitism in overblown speech
- Coughlin clings to lead at LPGA Canadian Women's Open
- Trump offers tech sector policy flips ahead of election
- Spacecraft to swing by Earth, Moon on path to Jupiter
- What's the fallout of Mexican drug lords' capture?
- Video game makers see actors as AI 'data,' says union on strike
- Chinese qualifier Shang to face Thompson in ATP Atlanta semis
- 'Massive attack' on French rail threatens more chaos
- 'We did it!': France breathes sigh of relief after Olympics ceremony
- Regional concern grows as Venezuela blocks vote observers
- Historic river parade, Dion show-stopper ignite Paris Olympics
- Rainy Paris Olympic parade dampens many spectators' spirits
- The one of a kind Paris opening ceremony: five memorable moments
- Justin Timberlake seeks to dismiss DUI case
- Warner Brothers Discovery sues NBA over Amazon rights deal
- Kobe Bryant locker, Maradona jersey up for auction in New York
- Historic river parade launches Paris Olympics
- New York family of Holocaust victim reclaims Nazi-looted art
- NASA Mars rover captures rock that could hold fossilized microbes
- Thousands evacuate season's biggest wildfire in northern California
- Ethiopia mourns victims of landslide tragedy
- Lady Gaga adds sparkle to star-studded Olympic show
- Airbus and Boeing supremacy secure despite turbulence
- Teams sail down Seine in rain-soaked Olympics opening ceremony
- West Indies' treble strike rocks England in third Test
- Olympic opening ceremony under way on River Seine
- Mott's England future uncertain as ECB chief fails to offer support
- Trump meets Israeli PM Netanyahu in Florida
- S.African police say 95 Libyans detained at suspected military camp
- Blinken set for talks with Chinese counterpart in Laos
- Norris heads Piastri in McLaren one-two at Belgian GP practice
- G20 seeks common ground on taxing super-rich
- European medicines watchdog rejects new Alzheimer's drug
- Habib, Ebden eye Alcaraz and Djokovic shocks at Olympics tennis
- Long queues, ticketing problems ahead of Paris opening ceremony
- Two Sinaloa Cartel leaders face US charges after stunning capture
- Spain train driver jailed for 2.5 years over deadly 2013 crash
- Paris poised for Olympic opening ceremony spectacular
- Judoka fails doping test in first case at Paris Olympics
- Holder and Da Silva keep England at bay after West Indies collapse
- Alpine F1 boss Bruno Famin to leave in August
- Ethiopia declares three days of mourning after landslide tragedy
- Brazilian dunes dotted with dazzling pools make UNESCO heritage list
- Rain, cooling slow huge blaze in Canada's Jasper park
- French Rugby's Jaminet suspended 34 weeks after racist video: Federation
- Osaka looking to turbo-charge comeback at Paris Olympics
Future on hold as Real Madrid await PSG Champions League blockbuster
Carlo Ancelotti has been around long enough to know these are the games that really matter at Real Madrid.
A Champions League last-16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain, with all the noise, the drama and the intrigue, will carry greater significance for Madrid’s president Florentino Perez than any of their other 39 fixtures so far this term.
In 2018, Zinedine Zidane launched his entire coaching career off winning titanic battles like these.
No matter that Real Madrid finished almost 20 points behind Barcelona in La Liga. Zidane marched his team past four European heavyweights in the knock-out stages – PSG, Juventus, Bayern Munich and, in the final, Liverpool – and was instantly hailed a genius.
If success in Europe can excuse domestic failure at Real Madrid, the reverse is also true.
Winning La Liga this season however may not be enough to prevent serious questions being asked about the direction of the club if it is PSG celebrating at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Ancelotti knows the demands better than anyone. He experienced them in 2015, after leading Madrid to the yearned-for ‘La Decima’ – the club’s 10th Champions League crown – only to be sacked the following season.
“Madrid is not a club where you put down roots,” he wrote in his book ‘Quiet Leadership’ in 2017. “You are only ever a piece of the project.”
Even when Real Madrid appointed Ancelotti last summer, it felt more like a marriage of convenience, Perez finding a trusted guardian to smoothen out a period of transition after Zidane's departure and the financial uncertainty caused by the pandemic.
Ancelotti, meanwhile, grabbed an unexpected chance to manage at the very highest level again.
It has worked out better than perhaps either imagined. Real Madrid’s 4-1 win over Real Sociedad on Saturday sent them eight points clear at the top of La Liga, which they will surely now win from here.
A commanding performance certainly suggested they can overturn their 1-0 deficit against PSG.
But for as long as Madrid continue to rely on a core of players in their thirties and coaches that manage rather than build, familiar questions remain: How long can it last? And then, what comes next?
Two figures at PSG throw those questions into even sharper focus.
Kylian Mbappe’s scintillating late winner in the first leg in Paris appeared to be both deflating and thrilling for Madrid supporters in equal measure.
Many felt they were getting an up-close preview of a player that will be theirs in the summer.
Such is Mbappe’s quality and appeal, his arrival at Real Madrid would grant the club a generational shift in one move, a 23-year-old superstar to instantly build a team around.
Mbappe would update their style and restore their status, Real Madrid once again with a side not just to be respected, but feared.
The other pertinent figure is PSG’s coach Mauricio Pochettino, whom Madrid have coveted for the last five years and strongly considered to replace Zidane in 2018.
“I take it as something positive that Madrid think highly of me,” Pochettino said the following year.
Pochettino’s time might at Madrid yet come but he is also symptomatic of the kind of modern, intense, hands-on coach they have steered clear of, in favour of more conservative appointments like Zidane, Julen Lopetegui and Ancelotti.
Others have been bolder. PSG have gone for Pochettino, Bayern Munich for Julian Nagelsmann, Chelsea for Thomas Tuchel and Barcelona for Xavi Hernandez.
Manchester City and Liverpool are still the teams to beat with Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp. Juventus have reverted to Max Allegri - but not before they tried Andre Pirlo.
Ancelotti has looked a good fit to prolong the likes of Luka Modric, Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos and Casemiro, who have been key to Madrid’s dominance in La Liga. Modric and Benzema, in particular, have been outstanding.
And there is no doubt Madrid's veterans can find a different gear when the Champions League music plays. Few would be surprised to see them find a way to prevail on Wednesday.
But these matches serve as a litmus test too. With Barcelona and Atletico Madrid struggling, these games are a truer indication of where Madrid are now in comparison to the elite.
After defeating Liverpool last season, Madrid were outplayed by Chelsea. The year before, they were convincingly beaten by City.
This is the challenge this week for Real Madrid against PSG; for Ancelotti and his players to prove they are still relevant, not just in Spain, but at the highest level, a force for the present rather than relics of the past.
A.Santos--PC