Ancelotti claims stars ignored plan as Benzema promises they will make amends in Madrid
Ancelotti was asked if he planned to go at Man City and create an open game and admitted this wasn't something he encouraged his players to do
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti admitted his Real Madrid team failed to stick to his game plan in Tuesday night's defeat by Manchester City.
The Los Blancos boss was looking for his side to defend first at the Etihad, but his back four failed to turn up in the Champions League, with his strikers ensuring Real Madrid are still in this tie.
Ancelotti was asked if he planned to go at Man City and create an open game and admitted this wasn't something he encouraged his players to do.
"Not really, no [the plan wasn't to attack Gung-Ho]," Ancelotti said after the match. "The plan was to defend better. We started really badly and conceded two goals really early.
"But then we were able to react and we reacted really well. We stayed in the game and we are staying in this round. We have a home game and our supporters could help us."
On the match itself, Ancelotti added: "It was easy to read this game, for sure. We have to defend better. [Pep] Guardiola can say the same. The strikers had a better game than the defenders."
Man City must now travel to Spain for the second leg of the semi-final, where Real Madrid will be favourites to beat their rivals. But Ancelotti is keen to keep the pressure on Guardiola's side, reminding the world that it is they who have something to lose ahead of the match.
He added: " Manchester City has the advantage, they have one more goal. But I think at the Bernabeu everything is open."
But Karim Benzema said Real Madrid "will do something magical" to reach the Champions League final after scoring twice in a thrilling 4-3 defeat to Manchester City in Tuesday's semifinal first leg.
"A defeat is never good," Benzema told Movistar. "The most important thing is we never gave up until the end... Now we have to go to the Bernabeu. We'll need the fans like never before. We'll do something magical, which is to win."
Madrid's Bernabeu stadium has already hosted two dramatic games in these Champions League knockout stages. They overturned a 1-0 first leg loss at Paris Saint-Germain in the round-of-16, Benzema scoring a hat trick in a 3-1 home win.
An extra-time winner from Benzema was required to eliminate Chelsea 5-4 on aggregate in their quarterfinal second leg.
Tuesday's brace means the France forward has now scored 14 Champions League goals this season.
"What can you say about Karim Benzema?" teammate Vinicius Junior said. "He's a great player, he's my brother... Let's hope he can end the season winning LaLiga, winning the Champions League and finish up with the Ballon d'Or."
Benzema scored his penalty against City after seeing two spot-kicks saved in his previous game, a 3-1 LaLiga win at Osasuna on April 20.
"If you never take a penalty, you'll never miss a penalty," Benzema said. "I have a lot of self-confidence."
"We never thought about changing who'd take the penalties," coach Carlo Ancelotti added.
"We have full confidence [in him]. They were expecting him to put it to the right and he put it down the middle. We have a lot of confidence and hope [for the second leg], with the magic of the Bernabeu."
