Ancelotti's black night in Madrid's disaster in Manchester: "Who doesn't trust Carlo? You?"
What should have been one of his happiest nights, the one in which he surpassed Ferguson as the coach with the most games in the history of the Champions League (191), ended like the rosary of dawn for Carlo Ancelotti, who suffered against Pep Guardiola the worst defeat of his continental career. A similar to that 4-0 that Deportivo endorsed his Milan in 2004, but incomparable in sensations to what happened at the Etihad.
No defeat is as important as those that happen to Real Madrid. Against Guardiola's City, the white team lived one of the darkest nights of its existence. It happened 5-1 against Hamburg in 1980, 5-0 against Milan in 1989, Liverpool's 'dripping' 4-0 in 2009 and this Wednesday in England, territory already noted in that book of disasters. madridistas
«It is that losing like this…». In the stands and corners of the citizen stadium, mobile phones were smoking. The historic defeat, together with Barcelona's victory in La Liga and the irregular performance of a Madrid that will say goodbye to this season with a European Super Cup and a Copa del Rey, raised the volume of the runrún about Ancelotti, confirmed his continuity by Florentino Pérez two weeks ago and questioned after his team's bad game against City. The Italian is touched by the club's management, which is already beginning a necessary time for reflection to assess what has happened in recent months.
Inferior and incapable, the 4-0 fell squarely on the Italian's bench, who to defend himself recalled the conversation with the president a few days ago. «No one doubts. The president was very clear 15 days ago,” he said, and insisted: “No one doubts.”
Dry and concise in his answers, with the anger of the recent game and the gesture twisted by the sensations, the Italian tried to explain the poor performance of his team. «They are football things. They deserved to win. They played with more intensity and were superior today as we were superior last year,” he hastened to recall, repeating the place Madrid had reached: “These are things that can happen in Champions League semifinals.”
“We don’t have to make a drama”
The Italian declared that “we don’t have to make a drama”, but a few meters away from the main table in the press room, Carvajal and Courtois were very harsh with what they experienced on the pitch. “We lacked a bit of …. I wouldn’t say attitude. But we did put our asses on the back foot too early,” said the full-back. The goalkeeper went further: “It hurts how. You can lose on penalties, extra time, 2-1, 2-0… but 4-0 is very hard. It’s hard to lose just before a final, but it was against a great team,” he said. In the mixed zone, Kroos threw a dig at Ancelotti: “Who doesn’t have confidence in Carlo? You?” he replied to a journalist.. “We have young people, with a lot of hunger for success. We will come back stronger. The balance sheets, on June 4,” added Carvajal.
Kroos wanted to be more concise: “You don’t win every year. The rivals also play and today we didn’t deserve to reach the final,” he admitted. “The pressures have not been good, but if my shot goes in the game changes,” he assured. Next to him, Vinicius pointed out that “not everyone makes it to the semifinals. Now we’re not in a good frame of mind to speak well. We are sad. It’s been a very difficult day for us, it’s a learning experience,” confessed the Brazilian. Afterwards, Modric insisted that “this team still has a lot to give”, in a mixed zone in which captain Benzema was missed.
Vinicius and Modric did not doubt Ancelotti’s future.. “Of course it has to continue,” the Brazilian said. “I think this group deserves one more year. In Madrid everything becomes big when you lose, there is a lot of analysis and a lot of criticism. Criticism is not going to sink us,” the Croatian finished.