Champions League: Ancelotti angry that City’s equalizer, Wenger agrees with him
The Real Madrid head coach, Carlo Ancelotti, has insisted that Kevin De Bruyne’s stunning equaliser should not have stood.
Ancelotti received a yellow card for protesting to the officials in the aftermath of De Bruyne’s 20-yard strike, which earned City a 1-1 draw at the Bernabéu on Tuesday night in their semi-final first leg.
The Italian was convinced that the ball had gone out of play in the build-up to the goal when Bernardo Silva won possession on the touchline in front of the dugouts. Using its own technology, the Qatari broadcaster, beIN Sports, claimed the ball did go out of play and that a throw-in should have been awarded. VAR, however, does not track the ball’s location on the touchline and can only check whether it crosses a goalline.
“It was out, and it’s not just me saying that, it’s technology saying that,” Ancelotti said. “BeIN Sports used 3D technology. They showed it was out. I don’t understand why they didn’t use VAR. The referee wasn’t paying a lot of attention anyway. He booked me and I wasn’t playing.”
A clip from BeIN Sports showed the ball over the line in the build-up to City’s goal — but VAR doesn’t check this area of the game
A clip from BeIN Sports showed the ball over the line in the build-up to City’s goal — but VAR doesn’t check this area of the game
Ancelotti felt that his team were the better side. “We easily could have won,” he said. “We controlled the game well. After scoring we played well.
“We go to Manchester with good feelings for the second leg because we played well. We just have to play again like we did tonight. We were not worried when City had possession.”
Pep Guardiola said that he was “really satisfied” with his team’s performance in Madrid, where they were knocked out of the competition in dramatic fashion last season, conceding three late goals in the second leg of the semi-final.
“We defended the box really well in general,” the City manager said. “Now it’s like a play-off, a final, in Manchester and we are looking forward to it.”
Arsene Wenger has weighed in on Manchester City's controversial equaliser in their Champions League semi-final clash against Real Madrid.
"In a situation like that, they have to intervene and they did not go far enough back to check if the ball was out or not or they [were unable] to check if the ball was out or not. I think we go for the second solution because normally VAR cannot check on the sideline, only on the goal line.
"VAR has been created to make more right decisions [based] on facts - is the ball in or out? VAR has to intervene and make the right decision, this is absolutely 100 percent.
"At the moment, I believe we cannot check on the sideline if the ball is in or out on the VAR. But we have a chip in the ball now and with a chip in the ball you can check."
