Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti was disappointed with his players’ attitude, calling them “soft” for defending too deep in their 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final, first leg on Tuesday.
Ancelotti was critical of his team’s commitment after Vinicius Jr’s first-half goal gave them the lead as Bayern struck twice in four minutes early in the second half to turn the game around before Vinicius equalised from the penalty spot.
“The result is good but on a level of play we could have done better. Bayern showed their best version and we didn’t. We have to improve for next week,” an introspective Ancelotti told Movistar Plus+.
“In the first half we defended but with little intensity, in the second half when they took the lead we started to press a bit more, but not enough.
“The feeling was that we were comfortable, but we lacked intensity. We gave them too many chances to take control of the game. We didn’t want to play in a low block and we went on doing that. We were soft.”
Ancelotti defended his decision to substitute midfielder Toni Kroos, who set up Vinicius’ opener with a brilliant pass and was arguably Real’s best player.
The Italian said that he made four substitutions in an effort to shake his team up and was relieved that they ended up scoring the equaliser that he believes “left the tie open” for the return leg in Madrid next week.
“Jude Bellingham had a cramp, Toni Kroos played a spectacular game but the plan was to try to recover the control of the game by putting fresh legs in,” Ancelotti told a press conference.
“As always, at this point in the season, we have a great opportunity to play in another final. It’s an even tie against a great team. It will be another 90 minutes of suffering but in an atmosphere that we know quite well. The fans are going to help us.”
