Real Madrid coach Ancelotti: It wasn't beautiful; long ball worked against Liverpool | OneFootball

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti admits preparing to defeat Liverpool was easy ahead of last night's Champions League final victory.

Real won 1-0 in Paris thanks to Vini Jr's strike.

“I am happy. I don't really think about that, I just focus on us reaching the end of a difficult but deserved campaign thanks to the heart of this squad, their concentration and experience. I think that's why we won," Ancelotti told Sky Italia.

“Vinicius scored a goal, Courtois made saves, end of story!

“I think Liverpool were strong, but if you keep a high defence and give them room to attack behind you, that's where you struggle, so our defenders did well to close those spaces.

“Looking back, people said oh PSG were unlucky, Chelsea were unlucky, Manchester City were unlucky, this was practically the only game where people thought we were more or less on the same level.

“I think it helped that Liverpool were easier to decipher than the others, because they have a very clear identity and we could prepare the way that we did. We knew what strategy to take, don't give them space behind the defence to run into.

“Perhaps our football wasn't extraordinarily beautiful tonight on an aesthetic level, but playing out from the back to incentivise their pressing wasn't a great idea.

“We had a few more long balls, then when their press in our half of the pitch lessened, we got to control the ball more especially in the second half.

“Aside from the quality, we created a great mix between younger players and veterans, the experience and enthusiasm, that was one of the keys to our success."