Ancelotti: “The yellow cards for Mendy and Casemiro seemed like a gift to me”

Carlo Ancelotti I speak in Movistar Champions League after falling 1-0 with the Real Madrid before him PSG in the first leg of the round of 16 Champions League.

sensations: “We have not played well, they have been superior, but it is only the first part of the tie. We are going to play a different game in our stadium. The ball was not released well. We have not been able to get out of the pressure. We have had difficulties in that regard.”

Mbappe: “The best player in Europe today. He has been decisive.”

What did he say to his players at the break: “We haven’t played as we’ve prepared or wanted, but we have the second leg. It’s going to be a very long tie. With the Bernabéu behind it, it’s going to be a different game”.

Minimize PSG: “We have to put more pressure, win more balls and more success with the ball. We have failed a lot and that is why we have had difficulties”.

Yellow cards for Mendy and Casemiro: “We had two players warned and they both fell. Those two cards seemed like gifts to me, that’s what I told the referee. We’re going to replace them well”.

Carlo Ancelotti was interviewed in RMC Sport after the final whistle of the match.

Defending: “Normally we defend with a low block, I don’t think our problem tonight was defense, but we had a hard time getting the ball out, we didn’t have chances up front.”

Before talking about the Mbappé case: “He’s very strong, he won the match…”.

Should the best players end up at Real Madrid?: “I don’t know, I don’t want to talk about these things.”

The Real Madrid coach spent minutes later at a press conference.

What happened?: “It has happened that we have suffered, the defensive aspect we have done quite well, we have not been very aggressive, what has been lacking is play with the ball. It has cost us a lot to get out of PSG’s pressure in our field. We had clear chances, the start wasn’t clean, the ball didn’t come in attack. There’s no complicated explanation, we didn’t play with the ball the way we wanted”.

Was it worth it for Benzema to play?: “Benzema’s problem was not physical. I changed him five minutes from the end, the balls that we wanted did not reach him. It cost us a good game, something that we usually don’t have as much of a problem with high pressure, but tonight it didn’t come out. I’m optimistic for the second leg, we have to do better than PSG at home. We don’t have that concern about away goals. Hopefully PSG’s advantage isn’t enough.”

What did you say to the referee?: “That he had given us two cards that we didn’t deserve.”

What did you think of Mbappé?: “Mbappé is unstoppable, we have tried to control him. Militao has done very well, but he is a player who always invents something.”

Was your approach too conservative?: “Too conservative… sometimes you have to try. It didn’t work out for us to come out with the ball from behind, in a low block we had to be more aggressive. When we had the ball, it was a matter of trying harder and better. We decided not to increase the pressure too much , having a low block, as I have already said, we have defended well, but with the ball we have had more difficulties than normal”.

What can you tell the fans to make them optimistic?: “That we played with eleven… plus 50,000”.

But Casemiro and Mendy will be missing…: “We have a big squad and it’s not the first time they haven’t played, we have a squad that we can replace. We have to plan a more forceful match than we did today”.

The midfielder, without the ball, suffered too much: “It is true that we have suffered in the middle without the ball, with the pressure on full-backs and midfielders. They usually fail fewer passes than they have failed today. You cannot change the characteristics we have. It has not worked out for us today, but not because of that we have to change; we have to improve”.