Carlo
Ancelotti reserved high praise for Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal,
insisting is a "fantastic" hire for the club.
The Dutchman
has coached some of Europe’s top clubs - winning the Champions League, seven
league titles and numerous continental cups - while most recently leading
Netherlands to a third-place finish at World Cup 2014.
Real Madrid
coach Ancelotti believes the experience of Van Gaal will help him drag Man Utd
back to winning ways after a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Premier
League last season.
"Van
Gaal is a very good and very experienced manager," he told reporters ahead
of his European champions' clash with the Red Devils on Saturday. "He will
do a fantastic job with Manchester United.
"He had
a fantastic World Cup with Netherlands and as a coach he has nothing else to
learn.
"It’s
important that the players buy into the system and are involved in making it
work. It’s difficult to say how long it will take for this improvement to show,
but the most important thing is to have a clear idea and I think Van Gaal has
very good experience with this.
"I
think Manchester United made a fantastic choice with Van Gaal."
The Italian
likes what the Premier League outfit have done to strengthen their squad during
the summer transfer window, bringing in young stars Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera
with others rumoured to be on their way, but isn’t sure if it will be enough
for them to win the title this season.
"I
think that after Sir Alex Ferguson left it was difficult for them. Now they
have done a great job rebuilding the team, signing some really good players
this summer. To build the team back is not so easy," he continued.
"I
think the Premier League at the moment is very competitive. It will be
difficult to win in his first year because there are a lot of very tough teams
who want to win."
Ancelotti is
eager to face the Dutchman in Saturday’s match, the final instalment in Real
Madrid’s North American tour, and knows difficulty of the task that lies ahead
for his team.
"It’s
never a friendly against Manchester United," the ex-Chelsea boss said.
"We are playing a fantastic team inside a fantastic stadium.
"We
want to do our best because it is the last game of our tour and we want to
finish it well before we return to Europe to prepare for the Supercopa. We need
to play a good game tomorrow."
The
55-year-old also addressed the status of Angel Di Maria and Diego Lopez - who
have been strongly linked with departures from Real Madrid this summer - while
confirming Iker Casillas as the starting goalkeeper for their upcoming Uefa
Super Cup final against Sevilla in their first competitive game of 2014-15.
“Diego Lopez
is working hard and being very professional," he added. "At this
point there’s no news on any transfers.
"He
won’t play tomorrow, however, as we want to give Iker some minutes as he will
be playing in the Uefa Super Cup later this month. Diego still has the full
confidence of everyone in the team though.
"There
is no news on Di Maria. He is continuing his holiday and will return to the
team on August 5 as was planned before the World Cup."
The match is
scheduled for kick off just after 22:00CET on Saturday in front of a sell-out
crowd of over 100,000 fans at Michigan Stadium.
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