Carlo Ancelotti, the coach of Real Madrid, said that his team was defeated by the superior team on Wednesday after they were humiliated 4-0 at Manchester City, giving them a 5-1 overall loss in their Champions League semifinal.
In front of their ecstatic supporters, City, who were defeated by Real at the same stage last season, exacted revenge for that terrible loss with an outstanding performance. Only Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois prevented City from doing any more damage.
Ancelotti told reporters, “They played better than us and deserved to win.”
They applied a lot of pressure at the start, which was beneficial for them since it was tough for us to get the ball into play, and they went up two goals.
“Thereafter, it became challenging to rejoin the game. In the second half, we made an effort, but it was unsuccessful.
Ancelotti acknowledged that it had been a tough night but said that it was still too early to determine what had gone wrong.
He said, “Evaluating today, at this time, makes no sense.”
“This loss hurts a lot, it really hurts. But it’s possible. We faced a formidable opponent in the Champions League semi-finals, but they performed better and eliminated us from the championship. In order to improve for the next season, we must learn.
Ancelotti was preparing to wrap up the season with only the Spanish Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup to show for their efforts, a year after winning the LaLiga and Champions League double and becoming the first manager to win championships in each of Europe’s top five leagues.
On Wednesday, he did break another milestone, overtaking former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson to become the coach with the most European Cup games (191).
But Ancelotti was left looking for a silver lining when their archrivals Barcelona were declared LaLiga champions last weekend with four games remaining.
“I believe the season was excellent. In the few games we still have left, we must perform,” Ancelotti remarked.
Since just four clubs go to the semifinals of the Champions League, I consider this to be a success.