Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has blasted the referee after Real Madrid settled for a dramatic 1-1 draw with Manchester City in Champions League semifinal first leg.
It was a blockbuster clash as Real Madrid tackled Manchester City in 2022/23 Champions League semi-final first leg at Satiago Bernarbeu.
The LaLiga champions had less control of the game against the Premier League serial winners but were menacing and deadly on the press.
Two fire goals, both coming from outside the box, in each half tied the game. Despite grappling with Pep Guardiola’s tikitaka style, Carlo Ancelotti had a firm grip of the ball when under pressure in their half.
First, deadly Norwegian goal poacher, Erling Haaland was marked out but Kevin de Bruyne took his place.
Real Madrid leveraged on the pace of Camavinga and precision of Vinicius Jr to fire home a thunderbolt lead in the 35th minute.
Camavinga took a solo run from the left flank before cutting towards the center to find an unmarked Vincius close to the edge of Manchester City box.
The Brazil ace spurned further intrusion into the opponents’ half but chose to crash a right-footed thunderbolt pass Ederson to give Real Madrid the lead.
Manchester City responded late in the second half when Kevin de Bruyne also fired an incredible low shot from outside the box pass Thibaut Courtois into the bottom-left.
The Belgium international took his outsid-the-box Champions League goals to 7 out of 14 while also becoming the first player in Champions League history to score in separate games against Real Madrid in knockout stages.
De Bruyne’s thumping rocket strike restored parity after Vincius Jr’s similar thunderbolt separated the two sides in the first half.
The 67th-minute strike was enough to salvage a draw for the Premier League champions but it was a controversial goal from the perspective of Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti.
Carlo Ancelotti argued the buildup to Kevin de Bruyne’s 69th-minure equaliser was marred with an obvious officiating blunder.
He maintained the ball had crossed the line and referee Artur Soares Dias should have whistled for a throw-in instead of allowing the ball to be played on leading to the goal.
Capturing the incident in his post-match interview, Carlo Ancelotti said;
“The ball was off the pitch. That is it. Technology said it. I don’t understand why VAR didn’t check it. The referee didn’t pay attention to many things tonight.” [Full post-match press conference available at the end of this post]
Carlo Ancelotti was later issued a yellow card by Artur Soares Dias during the game as he continued to remonstrate with the match officials towards the tail end of the blockbuster clash.
Pep Guardiola reacts
Unlike his Real Madrid counterpart, Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, seemed indifferent to any claim of bias by Artur Soares.
In a short witty response captured in his post-match interview, he said;
”When we were better they score. When they were better we score. Tight, tight game.”
”The Bernabeu in the semi-final, sometimes we had good moments and sometimes it was difficult with the quality they have on the ball. Final next Wednesday at home with our people.”
The match ended with both sides heading into the second leg at Etihad next week on equal advantage.
With the away goal rule no longer a factor, both sides must get a win at Etihad to qualify for the final.
Carlo Ancelotti fulll post-match press conference
With the first leg result, who do you think will qualify for the final?
