Real Madrid and the Champions League are a great love story. And it is not this quarter-final return and this qualification snatched against Manchester City on penalties (1-1, 3-4 tab) despite an overwhelming domination of their opponent which will contradict this assertion.
The Madrid club, 14 times winner of the Big Ears Cup, comes out on top again and again, to the great pleasure of their coach Carlo Ancelotti. ” Survive ? We have known how to do this for years. We always get out of inextricable situations. Everyone thought we were dead but Real never dies,” recalled the Italian coach at a press conference.
“We suffered”
“It all came down to mentality,” continues Jude Bellingham. Less present offensively in recent times, the English midfielder suffered this Wednesday against the Citizen Armada, but held on like his team. “It’s a relief, you give so much in this type of match. Against Manchester City it’s so hard because they keep making you move. Most teams collapse when City dominate them, but we held up very well,” he said.
“We suffered, fought, gave everything. Our block was too low, City controlled the game too much. I think we defended very, very well,” concludes Carlo Ancelotti.
Opposite, Pep Guardiola’s men could only observe the damage, taken into a penalty shootout which did not smile on them with the failures of Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic, despite domination from A to Z. I liked the way we played, but football is about winning and we didn’t do that even though we were exceptional. We did not convert our chances,” regretted the Spanish coach after the match. For the second time in three years, Real Madrid managed to take out Manchester City… experience, their greatest strength.
