Milan studied El Classico to prepare for Real Madrid in Champions League | OneFootball

Paulo Fonseca confirmed that he and his staff studied Barcelona’s recent 4-0 El Classico victory over Real Madrid to prepare for their Champions League match against Carlo Ancelotti’s side on Tuesday evening.

Milan will play Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu in the fourth round of Champions League fixtures on Tuesday evening.

Milan studied Barcelona’s El Classico victory to prepare for Real Madrid

Fonseca admitted that as a football fan, it was ‘impossible not to watch’ Madrid’s recent match-up against Barcelona, but explained that the game also helped him and his staff understand how to break Los Blancos down.

“I watched Real-Barcelona, it’s impossible not to watch it, because they are teams that I like to watch. We’re a different team, of course, but we used the footage from El Classico to prepare for this match,” Fonseca said during his pre-match press conference on Monday evening.

Carlo Ancelotti, Head Coach of Real Madrid, gestures during the LaLiga match between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on October 26, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

Fonseca admitted that Milan are the underdogs heading into their away match against the current Champions League holders.

Journalists proceeded to ask him whether there are any similarities to Milan’s preparation for their 2-1 victory over Inter in Serie A, another game that the Rossoneri were not expected to win. Fonseca understood the question, but did not agree.

“It’s similar in that Milan were not the favourites against Inter, and we are not tomorrow, but they are completely different games. They are opponents with totally different styles of play. We’ve prepared for this game differently,” Fonseca said.