MADRID, 7 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The coach of Real Madrid, Carlo Ancelotti, stated that the “criticism” and “whistles” from the fans are “deserved” after a “bad” game by his team, “mentally tired”, against the German Leipzig in the round of 16 of the Champions League, a duel of “too much suffering”.
“Too much suffering, more than we thought. We played badly. But now I am happy to go to the quarterfinals, we are better than ever, we are seven points ahead in the League and we are in the quarterfinals, we would have signed it at the beginning of the season,” he said. the coach in a press conference after drawing (1-1) against the Germans and getting the ticket to the quarterfinals.
However, Ancelotti acknowledged that they must “be critical”, because they have not “been able to handle the advantage” of the first leg and the 1-0 at the Bernabéu. “We were not good, little pressure, little intensity. Maybe I made a mistake in the lineup, but today was about putting energy in and we didn’t do it. We have to do self-criticism and evaluate what we haven’t done well,” he expressed.
“The criticism today is deserved, the whistles in the first half are deserved. The whistles have woken us up, it is necessary to have a demanding public like the one at the Bernabéu. We have woken up at some moments in the second half,” the Reggiolo player admitted about the gray first part of his.
And the coach diagnosed a lack of “freshness” and less “control” of the games as symptoms of the current bad moment of play. “We have less verticality, with loose and slow possessions. We have to recover this soon, the break will give us time to unload a little mentally. The team is mentally tired, we will come back better after the break,” he hoped.
Regarding his system, with five midfielders and only Vinícius as an attacker, Ancelotti defended that he wanted to “avoid counters and transitions” from the Germans. “It was a weak game, we were never able to press high. It was a suffering game, we returned to suffering. Last year the same against Liverpool… It is a bit in the history of this team, we are not able to handle the advantage. We have to approach it differently,” he added.
“Now I wouldn’t put the same team. On a defensive level it was important to have control of Simons and Olmo with Tchouameni and Camavinga, because there was the danger in the first leg. But they have managed the ball’s exit well,” he said about that 4- 3-3 against the Germans, before explaining that Camavinga’s change at half-time “was just a tactical change.” “If I had changed those who haven’t played well I would have even had to change the coach…” he joked.
Finally, Ancelotti highlighted the “spectacular” play of Vinícius’ goal and downplayed his yellow card for pushing Willi Orbán. “He pushed a little hard, but it didn’t seem like a red card to me,” he said, before evaluating the new format of the Champions League for next season: “all the formulas that get more games in are wrong.”