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Paul Lambert praises Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti's 'extraordinary' record

HULL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 10:  Paul Lambert the manager of Aston Villa looks on during the Barclays Premier League match between Hull City and Aston Villa a
Image: Paul Lambert: Spent time observing Carlo Ancelotti at work as Real Madrid coach

Paul Lambert has highlighted Carlo Ancelotti's "extraordinary" Champions League record as speculation grows over the future of the Real Madrid manager.

When still in charge at Aston Villa, Lambert spent time observing Ancelotti’s work on the training ground and noted the high quality of the Italian coach’s preparation.

Doubts have been raised this week about whether Ancelotti will see the season out at Madrid, who went out of the Champions League with a 3-2 defeat on aggregate to Juventus on Wednesday and trail Barcelona by four points with two La Liga games remaining.

Sky Sports pundits Jamie Carragher and Thierry Henry feel the manager will be departing the Bernabeu this summer and Lambert accepts the expectations at the club are vast.

"I thought he was fantastic and he was absolutely first class with me," he said. "I was there for four or five days and I went to the Madrid derby while I was there.

"I can understand that club changing managers like it’s going out of fashion because the demand on the manager must be extreme.

"You can win the Champions League and still go because the demand from the supporters is so high.

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Carlo Ancelotti says his Real Madrid side were unlucky not to beat Juventus in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final tie

"If they'd got through to the final this week, then he would have been involved in eight European Cup or Champions League finals, which is extraordinary.

"As a guy, as a coach and a manager he is first class."

There has been some criticism of Real Madrid's 'Galacticos' policy of buying a big-name player during each summer transfer window, with Sky Sports' Guillem Balague noting the club has won one La Liga title and one Champions League crown in the past seven years.

Real brought in Colombian star James Rodriguez last season and paid a world record fee for Gareth Bale 12 months earlier, with the Welshman scoring in the final as Madrid completed 'la decima' - a 10th European Cup title.

The transfer strategy does present some issues for the manager but Lambert did not recognise any training-ground issues during his time as an observer in Spain.

"Without giving too much away, I asked him how he handled the big players and he’s got his own way of doing it," he said.

"Everything in their games goes through (Cristiano) Ronaldo and I noticed in training that every one of their big players was bang on it, their passing was very high-quality and so was the work that they put in."

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