Carlo Ancelotti warned about the mental difficulty of facing the round of 16 round against Liverpool at the Bernabéu with a three-goal advantage, the Italian fearful of excessive relaxation, and his pupils more than complied with the coach’s guidelines. Real Madrid beat the English again (2-0), after a “solid” game, and will be in the quarterfinal hype.
“We have played well. We have managed the game well. We have not defended with a low block and we have dominated the ball. It was the game we wanted to do and we have fulfilled it,” explained the transalpine player after the final whistle. “On a psychological level it was a bit of a cheat game. We could slow down the accelerator and we haven’t. We have been solid, as always in the Champions League,” he added.
One of the keys that Ancelotti pointed out was neutralizing the forward pressure from Jürgen Klopp’s players, one of his best weapons. “It has been difficult for them to press because Modric and Kroos handle the ball well from behind,” he praised his two midfielders. The Croatian finished the game and the German was only changed in the 84th minute, when those from Anfield Road were already on the canvas.
“The team was fine. Changing for the sake of changing makes no sense. I wanted the changes to stop the game in case of having problems,” explained the coach, who despite the great advantage of the whites did not see the tie closed until the only player arrived goal of the game, the work of Benzema at an empty goal when the 78th minute was up.
The game lasted a few more minutes due to a possible handball from Tsimikas that the match referee, the German Felix Zwayer, did not consider to be a penalty after seeing the action on the VAR monitor. “It wasn’t a hand,” said Ancelotti, who criticized the penalty awarded on Tuesday in favor of City against Leipzig due to a controversial handball by Henrich: “It was crazy. Be careful with this because it’s not football. Nobody noticed, not even Guardiola “.
Ancelotti celebrated Real Madrid’s gesture of playing You’ll never walk alone at the end of the game, the iconic song that represents Liverpool and that plays before every Reds game at Anfield: “They reminded us of Amancio in going and it’s a very nice gesture for them”. Finally, the transalpine only made one wish on the path of the team in the Champions League: “I want Milan in the final.”
For his part, the scorer Karim Benzema assured that despite the advantage of the first leg, the game was “complicated”. “All the teams are good at this level and the qualifiers are decided by details,” he explained. The Frenchman received “a strong blow to the tibia” in the play of the goal that will not prevent him from being in the classic against Barça on Sunday. “I knew that the two central defenders play open, I know that they leave more space in the middle”, he concluded about the pass that he received from Camavinga in the goal play.
Consult all the results of the Champions League.
