Real Madrid are favourites to win the Champions League according to Cafu.
Real Madrid is the favourite to win the Champions League according to Brazil and AC Milan legend Cafu, who made his claim during an interview with OK Diario.
The newspaper reminded the former player, regarded by many to be the greatest right back of all time, of how it was said that whoever won a quarterfinal clash between Los Blancos and Manchester City would take such billing.
Cafu agreed with that conclusion.
“Yes, [Madrid is] the favourite, it’s true. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to win,” he said.
“Football is known to be very unpredictable. You can never foresee the outcome that’s going to happen. But Real Madrid are serious candidates to win the Champions League,” Cafu accepted
“Real Madrid is football history,” Cafu also stated.
“It is the greatest winner of the Champions League, and there was a time when it won its [European] championships very easily. It’s a world-renowned team. When you talk about the history of football, you also talk about the history of Real Madrid.”
Cafu revealed how he could have formed part of that history by joining the club from the Spanish capital in the 1990s.
“When I was at Sao Paulo I had the opportunity to go to Real Madrid, but Sao Paulo was in a period when they didn’t want to sell me.
“Vitor, the right-back, ended up coming in my place and I should have gone to Real Madrid at the end of the year. Sao Paulo won some titles that year and didn’t release me to go to Real Madrid. [It’s] a shame because I would have also played for a big club in world football.”
Cafu still didn’t do bad in Europe with passages through Roma and AC Milan, where he crossed paths with current Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti, who he called “among the best in the world” at his job.
Cafu credited Ancelotti’s strategic nous as the key to getting past City and setting up two last four dates with Bayern Munich.
Down the road, however, he predicted a “headache” for the Italian when Endrick joins the club in the same upcoming summer where Kylian Mbappe is expected to arrive on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain.
“There will be no shortage of quality,” Cafu pointed out. “The coach is going to have a headache with all those great players who are arriving. Rodrygo, Endrick, Vinicius all at Real Madrid… In short, they are players who are going to give the coach work to set up his tactical scheme.”
