Champions League: Ancelotti: “Everyone thought we were dead, but Real Madrid never dies”
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti spoke to the press in the mixed zone after a historic penalty shoot-out victory over Manchester City in the Champions League, booking a semi-final place against Bayern Munich in the process. “Everyone thought we were dead, but nobody can do that, Real Madrid never dies,” he said exuberantly.
Ancelotti on the win
“You can’t explain it. We started well, we took the lead and then we started to defend, to suffer, to qualify. We thought we would play differently, but when we took the lead we dropped the block too much. And City had more control. It always has. I think we defended very, very well.”
Ancelotti on the form of victory
“Madrid have done it many times. It’s this badge. In the shoot-out, we were convinced we would qualify. Andriy had a fantastic game. I like it when a team sacrifices, and fights. Besides the quality. This is the only way to win here.”
Ancelotti on penalties
“They were all very well taken. We were very surprised by Rüdiger because we haven’t done well with penalties this season, but they all did well.”
Ancelotti on this being his team
“No. This is Madrid’s Madrid. I am part of this group. I am very proud. This team has an extraordinary commitment, which has been forged this season with the injuries at the beginning. I think everyone is very focused on how to defend and they are doing well.”
Ancelotti on five semi-finals in five seasons
“And if my grandmother had wheels... We have to play the semi-final. We are very happy to reach the semi-final, especially after knocking out the European champions, who are a great team.”
Ancelotti on his highlight
“For our part, defensively we did very well. City tried to create a lot of problems. We did very well.”
Ancelotti on what won the game
“We took advantage of the opportunity we had. We tried to start the game strong, not like last year, to have more pressure. It worked out well for us because we scored early. And then we defended, fought, and sacrificed. For me, it was the only way to get out of this tie alive.”
Ancelotti on Pep Guardiola’s message to him
“He congratulated us on qualifying. He wished us luck. He is a gentleman. This club, City, is a club of gentlemen.”
Ancelotti on Real Madrid’s recent pattern of winning the Champions League after beating the reigning champion
“Statistics are there to be broken.”
Ancelotti on comparisons to the Chelsea game
“This tie has always been even. When we changed the system we fixed the back line a bit better. We’re quite used to them having possession. In the penalty shoot-out, the players were very confident, they were very calm, I wasn’t so calm. In the end, it worked out well.”
Ancelotti on fitness concerns
“We are very well, we have no physical problems. We have time until Sunday. We are going to recover and it’s up to us to realise that we did something very good.”
