Manchester – Carlo Ancelotti praised a “surprising” performance of defensive excellence on his side of Real Madrid while the headlines fought from an 80 -minute deficit to take control of his tie of the Champions League against Manchester City.
The objectives of Brahim Díaz and Jude Bellingham in the dying minutes earned the headlines a 3-2 vital advantage to take Santiago Bernabéu next Wednesday, a victory that they would feel they deserved in a match that ended with 20 shots and more than Twice the expected objectives of the city contain. Erling Haaland scored in both halves for the hosts, the latter is a controversial penalty for a lack of Dani Ceballos in Phil Foden and the first the only free flow movement that the city gathered.
It is possible that Madrid has not finished this game with a cleaning sheet, but a background thrown in the middle of a numbers crisis on the Ancelotti side still emerged with a lot of credit. Ancelotti also revealed that the four of Madrid had never trained. Raul Asencio’s crucial backle denied Kevin de Bruyne in the box, while midfielders Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni remained firm in an unknown environment. Their task was helped by the industry ahead of them, since Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe’s pressor prevented the city from moving rapidly to dangerous areas.
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“It’s a surprising game that we played tonight,” Ancelotti said about his team’s exhibition. “I did not think that at this time the team could make a sacrifice as they have done tonight.”
When asked if this performance pointed out the way ahead of his team, which has often fought out of possession this season, Ancelotti was emphatic.
“This is the way. We have been talking about this for a long time. This is the way.
“The season has really begun now. Despite the difficulties we have had, we have been able to play very well and get a good result.”
That this defensive action came with so many key figures that were foul made it even more impressive. Ancelotti has the hope that Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba will shake his wounds for the second leg, but in the meantime he was extremely impressed with a four butt that had not had as much as a training session together.
“The very critical Tchouameni had a spectacular game, just like Valverde and [Ferland] Mendy, “said Ancelotti.” Raúl [Asencio] He continues surprising by the maturity he has. Despite the emergency, we have been able to get something good. “
For Pep Guardiola, there were much less positive for taking. His Manchester City team had been the second best, but he found his head as the final beep approached, just for mistakes raising their heads at familiarly inopportune moments. First Ederson cleared the ball directly to a Madrid shirt, then stopping the shot of Vinicius directly on the path of Brahim Díaz. Then, Rico Lewis left secondly in a 50-50 duel, Vinicius moving the ball beyond an enriching ederson for Bellingham to deliver a 93-minute winner.
Another advantage deviated to go with the defeats to Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, Sporting and Brighton.
“Many games in the end we give,” Guardiola said. “At that level, it is very difficult. It is not the first time, it happens many times. There are errors in similar areas. It is difficult to handle, but yes, it happens many times.
“The players make decisions at the time, sometimes it works and sometimes not. We arrived at the last minute with the result, but we could not keep it. [The responsibility] It belongs to all of us, not only to the players. I have no problem accepting that it does not work as it worked in the past. We are all of us. “
