The indisputable success of Real Madrid and its record 14 European Cups have left its critics with scant arguments to question its legacy.

Yet in Spain, where Barcelona boasts its characteristic possession-based passing game, Madrid is often scrutinized for supposedly winning without wowing, for not producing the choral beauty of a Barcelona, or the high-octane attack of other European powers like, for example, Liverpool.

Carlo Ancelotti, Madrid’s laid-back Italian coach, couldn’t care less, however. When asked recently to define his team’s playing style, he said that it did not have one.

And he liked it that way.

After all, Madrid showed last season in its incredible march to the Champions League title a chameleon-like ease to find multiple ways to produce goals with time running down and its opponents apparently in control round after round before it beat Liverpool in the final.

“They said (we didn’t have style) when we won the Champions League last year. (But) We play soccer well,” Ancelotti said. “Real Madrid does not have a clear soccer identity for the simple reason that I don’t want it to have one. I want a team that knows how to do many things.”

Madrid on Saturday will again have to adapt to a team whose identity is set it stone.