Manchester City and Real Madrid meeting in the Champions League has become synonymous with the competition. While both always have ambitions of winning the entire thing, these two teams have already met 12 times in Champions League play with five of those meetings coming in the knockout stage.

Los Blancos have always boasted some of the best players in the world, but its their never-say-die spirit which so often proves decisive in Europe

Not much that happens in this competition surprises Ancelotti, a European champion twice as a player and five times as a coach, but the manner of their 3-2 victory over Manchester City felt like a revelation to the Madrid coach.