Carlo Ancelotti, the manager of Real Madrid, stated after Tuesday’s first leg of the Champions League semi-final that his team should have beaten Manchester City, but he was still delighted with his team’s performance despite the fact that the game finished 1-1.
Real had some difficulty getting a footing in the game early on, but after Vinicius Jr scored with a stunning shot from a distance in the 36th minute, they were able to take command of the situation and win the match.
However, after Real created many opportunities to increase their advantage, Kevin De Bruyne scored Real’s second goal in the 67th minute with a rasping low drive from a distance that he hammered home.
“We went into competition, we gave it our all, and I believe we earned this victory. We have a lot of optimism going into the second match since the first one went so well. “This match will be close right up until the very end,” Ancelotti said in an interview with Movistar Plus. “The result does not reward us for what we did on the pitch.”
They had more possession in the first half, but it didn’t bother us since we were properly positioned at the back and waited for an opportunity to make a good transition.
“During the second half, we were able to improve our ability to come out from behind the ball… and although we should have won, the feelings are positive.”
Ancelotti is typically cool and collected on the sidelines, but following Man City’s score, he lost his cool and was cautioned for arguing angrily with the Portuguese referee Artur Dias. As a result, the referee sent Ancelotti a yellow card.
During the buildup to City’s equalizer, the Italian had the impression that the ball went out of play. “The referee was too distracted,” Ancelotti said during a press conference.
“During the play before this one, it was a turning point for us that he overlooked. And the technology embedded in the photographs aired on BeIN Sports makes it very evident that play had been stopped before the ball could be touched again.
“I find it odd that they weren’t able to notice it. Even though I wasn’t participating in the game, he still issued me a yellow card. There were some players on the field who should have been shown additional cards. The referee wasn’t paying a lot of attention to the game.”
Ancelotti, on the other hand, stated that he was pleased with his team’s performance and that the match was still wide open.
“We have to play the way we played tonight,” he added. “We played really well.” They exerted some pressure on us, but our approach was sound, and we were able to defend while maintaining possession of the ball. We are happy with how things turned out and are looking forward with optimism to the second leg.
The second leg of City’s match against Real will take place in Manchester on the following Wednesday.