Carlo Ancelotti demands Real Madrid players turn up for Man City clash after being thumped 'without courage or personality' in 2022-23 Champions League

Ancelotti asked his side to show "more personality" ahead of Los Blancos' Champions League clash with Manchester City on Tuesday. La Liga's leaders saw their Champions League hopes derailed by Pep Guardiola's side last year, with a 4-0 loss at the Etihad seeing the 14-time winners knocked out.

In a pre-match press conference, Ancelotti asked for an improved showing: "We played without courage and without personality. It is fundamental in these games. There was a lack of that in the return leg. We didn’t manage things in the best way, it wasn’t just a lack of mental character, it was also that we lacked technical quality, they pressed us very high, and they sought us out, and we didn’t find alternative solutions to that. Obviously that’s something we want to improve this time round."

Ancelotti also admitted that Madrid are a much-changed side from the one that was handily beaten last year: "We have different characteristics with the ball, we had [Karim] Benzema last year, he was a reference, and now we don’t have him. We have handled this absence with more mobility on the attacking front. And that will be important, not fixing the forward positions.”

This is a different Madrid side to the one that was swept away 12 months ago. Los Blancos now rely on Jude Bellingham as a false nine, and setup in a different system to the 4-3-3 City carved apart last year. The Cityzens, meanwhile, remain relatively unchanged - although they are expected to miss a handful of key players to injury.

Los Blancos enjoyed a weekend off to prepare for the fixture, with La Liga halting fixtures on Saturday and Sunday. After facing City tomorrow, they will travel to Mallorca in their return to the league campaign.