Real Madrid was defeated by Sheriff Tiraspol in the 2nd matchday of Champions League and immediatley after the match the team and the coach had to confront a huge amount of critics. Carlo Ancelotti addressed the media to offer his thoughts on the Champions League group stage Matchday 2 encounter against Sheriff Tiraspol and stressed that looking back at the performance, the team did not deserve to lose.
Real had 30 shots on goal and 11 on target while keeping 67% of possession and winning 13 corners while the Moldovan side had only four attempts, scoring two of their three shots on target and failing to win a single corner. Sheriff, who were founded in 1997, are top of Group D with six points, after beating Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 in their opening game as well.
The coach commented: “We’re feeling down rather than being worried because we had the chance to have got the three points. The team did its job and played with great intensity and commitment and the fine margins have ended up costing us the game. We had lots of chances and could have done better in the final 30 metres. It’s difficult to explain the defeat when you look at the performance we put in”.
“This could be a good lesson for the future. We’re talking about a defeat when the team didn’t deserve to lose, given how we performed. Sheriff defended really well and were tight at the back. We linked up well and broke through their backline many times and sent over many crosses. Where we let ourselves down was on the fine details. We’ve lost the game because we had a bit of bad luck”, he added.
On Eden Hazard’s performance: “He had a good game and linked up well with Benzema and had chances to have scored. He shot on goal and the goalkeeper did well. All he’s missing is a goal”.
“We played more with a 4-4-2 today. We had Vinicius Jr. our wide on the left and Valverde, Hazard and Nacho interchanged on the right. We didn’t go with the classic 4-3-3 because we normally play that way with Hazard. Camavinga is used to playing on the left, because he played there many times when he was younger. We completely controlled the game and Valverde really got at them down the right side. Then I made changes in the centre to freshen things up a bit”.
On being booked by the referee: “It was something with the fourth official, because I felt he didn’t show me enough respect. At the end, I told him that I’d managed 130 Champions League matches and it was the first time I had been booked for doing nothing. He told me I had gone onto the pitch, but the game had stopped because they were checking the VAR system. It’s a lack of respect and I told him so and I also told the delegate. I don’t want to speak about the refereeing”.
Comments