Davide Ancelotti: Time Flies When You Come to Emirates Stadium

At 3:00 AM Beijing time (CET) on October 14, Lille will visit Arsenal in the second matchday of the UEFA Champions League group stage. Ahead of the match, Lille head coach Davide Ancelotti attended a press conference. This article covers the first part of that press conference.

In Brazil, given your previous coaching experience with Botafogo, we viewed you as a capable, independent head coach. But I imagine returning to European football at this stage is quite a different experience. I'm eager to hear about your personal feelings so far. Additionally, your team's defensive statistics are very impressive, and you also have Alexsandro. I remember you worked with him when you were with the Brazil national team. So I'd like to know how you're working with him now and what you think of him? We lost him last year to injury, and now he's finally back from that injury, isn't he?

Good afternoon everyone. Yes, I know Alexsandro because I knew him from his time with the national team. So when I arrived here, I was very aware of his quality and characteristics as a player. At that time with the national team, he was performing excellently. Since arriving here, he's faced some physical injury issues.

So our objective from the start of the season was for him to return to peak physical condition early in the campaign. The coaching and medical staff have done an excellent job with him. Currently, he not only can play consistently but has also made very good physical recovery. Therefore, we sincerely hope he can maintain good health because he is a crucial core player for the entire team.

As for my personal feelings, I'm very happy and satisfied. Of course, we're currently in a gradual development process – I hope this is just the beginning of a great long-term building effort. Clearly, there are still many areas we need to improve, but I have received complete support from this excellent group of players.

We are gradually finding our own style of play and tactical approach, and in this process, continuously winning always helps greatly. Therefore, I believe the effectiveness we've shown in attack is very important, since we have many players with high tactical and technical ability. At the same time, for me personally, building a solid defensive foundation is extremely important.

Hello, sorry to interrupt earlier. I'll continue my previous question – clearly, through your father, you have a very deep understanding of English football, and you've also witnessed your father lead teams against Arsenal here. So for you, personally standing in the technical area as the visiting coach and managing the match tomorrow evening – what does that mean? Also, I'd like to ask one more question: will your father be at the match tomorrow evening?

Yes, when I arrived here this morning, I suddenly felt a bit old – though I'm not that old either, but I felt that time spares no one, you know? Because I've been here with Everton; I was here when my father was Chelsea's head coach – it feels like a very long time ago; then we played here when he managed Napoli, we played here when he managed Bayern Munich, and we also played at this stadium when he managed Real Madrid. So for me, coming here feels familiar like home.

No, it always brings an incredibly magical feeling. I think from the superb quality of the pitch to the passionate football atmosphere that fills the entire stadium, playing here is always an incomparable wonderful experience. Therefore, for our team, for each of our players, this will be an extremely valuable and wonderful experience. We know we're here to prepare thoroughly for the match, to play in our own style – we're very clear that to beat Arsenal away, we must play an almost perfect match. But that is precisely our objective: to pursue perfection. We will certainly strive and give everything, thank you all.

What are your thoughts and reaction to Thiago Santos's injury? Also, can you give us an update on the injury situation and latest squad news, particularly regarding Romain Perraud, who picked up a minor injury in the recent match, and Baqua, who wasn't in the squad for the Lens match?

Apart from Thiago Santos and Ethan Mbappé being injured, all our other players are currently available. Since this is a Champions League match, I can select 23 players for the squad, whereas in Ligue 1 we're only allowed 21, so I have more options. Baqua wasn't in the final squad, but he has returned to the squad for match day.

Regarding my reaction to the injury, I completely agree with what Olivier Giroud said previously: we, as a collective, are here to support him steadfastly. Although he cannot be with the squad at the moment, he will certainly not be forgotten. We will stand by him throughout his recovery process, and the whole team is patiently awaiting his return. I believe everyone has seen the official statement released by the club, and I completely agree with every word in that official statement, so personally I have nothing more to say. The most important thing is that the entire team will be his strongest support.

Bruno Guimarães will make his first start for Arsenal at Emirates Stadium tomorrow evening. He's made a very impressive impact coming off the bench, particularly scoring in the recent match. Additionally, Gabriel, a former Lille player, will certainly start tomorrow evening. Are you taking this opportunity to scout players for your father?

I think right now I have many other extremely pressing issues to deal with and think about. Tomorrow's match alone has enough tactical detail for me to plan. I will certainly be very happy to see them and chat tomorrow evening. We've built a very deep and good personal relationship with each other. Both are excellent top-class players, currently performing particularly well at Arsenal, and are essential core players for their national team's next cycle.

I sincerely hope they won't be at their best tomorrow, but we'll see. It will truly be wonderful and interesting to meet these two old friends again.

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