The Madrid coach paid tribute to the pugnacity of his team, eliminated in the 90th minute and which managed to reverse the situation. Real will face Liverpool in the Champions League final.
Carlo Ancelotti: “When all seems lost, this club gives you the strength to continue, to fight, to believe…”
AFP
Carlo Ancelotti, the coach of Real Madrid, savored the victory and the qualification of his team (3-1 once morest Manchester City, Wednesday), at the microphone of Movistar+: “The video that I showed before getting on the lawn was a video of all the lifts that we have already made this season, which are eight in number, he said. And the video ended with the following message: “One is missing.” And we succeeded! The greatness of this club is that it never gives up. When all seems lost, he gives you the strength to continue, to fight, to believe. We had a good match once morest a great team, we drew on our reserves to equalize and win. And when you equalize in the final, it’s even crazier. It happened to me before in a final once morest Liverpool, they came back to us at the end of the match, and it didn’t do our dynamics any good. (note: it was in 2005). Reaching the final is already a success. Now we are very close to winning it.”
For his part, the Belgian goalkeeper of Real, Thibaut Courtois, had difficulty believing it at the microphone of Canal+: “It’s even crazier than qualifying once morest Paris SG and Chelsea, because it lasted until the last moment, until the 90th and 92nd minutes. I think even at 1-0, we weren’t very good until the 89th minute. They still have two chances, one that Ferland (Mendy) save on the line, the other I save with the foot. And suddenly, the equalizer happens and we see that they are afraid. I can’t explain it, it’s unbelievable. When it’s 1-1 and the referee adds six minutes, you know anything is possible. In overtime, we knew we were better than them, that we had the momentum. Everyone gave their all, we knew we might win this match. It’s incredible. Already, being champion of Spain with Madrid, on Saturday, and now, living that… That’s why we are football players. We dream of clubs like that to experience moments like that.
On the Manchester City side, it was obviously grimace soup. So coach Pep Guardiola regretted this crazy end to the match in front of the cameras of Movistar+ : “When we were better in the match, we were qualified for the final. We had the game under control and they started to play high and managed to score. I have the experience of knowing that we weren’t in the final yet, but we were close. They are capable of writing history, as I have already said. We must congratulate them, like Liverpool. We struggled to get into the game, it’s a hard blow and it’s normal. We missed a little thing in the first half, we failed to give continuity. And in the second half, when we were better, we managed to score. And then there were those two minutes…”
Real Madrid captain and striker Karim Benzema scored his fifteenth goal of the season in the Champions League once morest Manchester City on Wednesday, and at the same time joined Robert Lewandowski in third place among historic C1 scorers, with 86 goals. .
The French international scored from the penalty spot in extra time, the qualifying goal once morest City (95th), following scoring a double (including a penalty) in the first leg in Manchester (Madrid defeat 4-3).
In the standings for the season, Benzema leads with fifteen goals, ahead of Lewandowski (13) whose team, Bayern Munich, was knocked out in the quarter-finals by Villarreal.
As for the ranking of “historic” scorers, Benzema and Lewandowski are still far from the leading duo. Cristiano Ronaldo (140 goals) and Lionel Messi (125).
Champions League 2021/2022. Ranking of scorers: 1. Benzema (Real Madrid) 15 buts. 2. Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) 13. 3. Haller (Ajax Amsterdam) 11. 4. Salah (Liverpool) 8. 5. Mahrez (Manchester City) et Nkunku (RB Leipzig) 7. 7. Danjuma (Villarreal), Ronaldo ( Manchester United), Mbappé (Paris SG), Nunez (Benfica), Sané (Bayern Munich) 6. 12. Mané (Liverpool), Messi (Paris SG), Firmino (Liverpool) et Rodrygo (Real Madrid) 5.
Champions League. Ranking of scorers since 1992/93: 1. Ronaldo (Manchester United) 140 buts. 2. Messi (Paris SG) 125. 3. Benzema (Real Madrid) 86 (+1) et Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) 86. 5. Raul 71. 6. van Nistelrooy 56. 7. Müller (Bayern Munich) 52. 8 Henry 50. 9. Ibrahimovic (AC Milan) 48 et Shevchenko 48.
(AFP)
