The Spanish giants hold a commanding 5-2 advantage after an impressive win at Anfield last month but Ancelotti insists that his players will not be sitting back on their lead in Wednesday's (15.03.23) clash.

The Real coach said: "The message is quite simple: not to assume. The players understand that I think it will be an open match as Liverpool come here trying to change the dynamic. We have to do both things, attacking and defending, properly. We will not just defend, we are thinking about the attack."

Ancelotti believes that his team has a difficult psychological balancing act for the game despite being in a very strong position.

He said: "From a psychological level, the match is more complex for us than Liverpool.

"Liverpool come here to give it their all and do their best from minute one, whatever happens. We saw that from the first leg.

"We will try to do all we can from the beginning but we have more questions than the opponent."

Antonio Rudiger has played against Madrid in the Champions League and thinks that the club have an imposing presence with their strong European record.

The former Chelsea defender said: "They (Liverpool) have a good attacking team. They played against a big rival and scored seven so that tells me they rise up to the big occasion and we need to be aware of that.

"But like my former coach (Thomas Tuchel) said when we played against Real Madrid, everyone knows Real Madrid are a very good counter-attacking team with Benzema and Vinicius and their abilities.

"My coach said you play against Real Madrid, you play against the badge and they always prove people right, that this badge is something bigger."