Real Madrid fell to a 2-1 defeat in Catalonia on Sunday night and in the process lost their third successive Clasico of the season.
It was the Galacticos that took the early lead on the night through a Ronald Araujo own goal forced by Vincius’ trickery. Barcelona stole level in the final minute of the first half and scored the eventual winner in the final minute of regulation time.
Carlo Ancelotti spoke to the media after his team’s defeat and addressed a plethora of topics from his substitutions to the league race. Here are the snippets from his post-match press conference.
The Real Madrid manager began his interview with a brief summary of the game that unfolded at Spotify Camp Nou and asserted that his men left the stadium with good feelings despite the result.
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“We played a good game, we deserved to win. There remains the question of the goal that was disallowed. We were convinced that the game was won. We leave this game with the confidence that we can finish the season well.”
Ancelotti’s side took an early lead against Barcelona and has a potential winner from Marco Asensio disallowed late on in the game. The coach lauded his men for their effort on the night saying,
“We are hurt and sad but proud of the game we played.”
Real Madrid sit twelve points behind Barcelona after the defeat in El Clasico. The Italian tactician refused to accept that the result against Xavi’s men cost them the title race and elaborated on the real factors that widened their gap with the Catalans.
“Our form in the month of January cost us.”
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It is rare for Ancelotti to make early substitutions in a game. For him to make five changes before the 80th minute is almost unheard of. The manager commented on his pitchside decisions against Barcelona saying,
“Making 5 changes in the 60th minute seems strange to me but I did it to change the game. I two changes in the last 15 minutes to introduce something else. The match was good from the first minute to the last.”
Marco Asensio’s goal against Barcelona could have potentially sealed a win for Real Madrid and would have completely changed the texture of the league race. Los Blancos’ coach stressed that he was not convinced of the offside call to disallow the goal.
“We didn’t win because there was an offside we still have doubts about. At the World Cup offsides were very clear, but here I still have doubts.”
Real Madrid travelled to Catalonia to take on arch-rivals Barcelona in a high-stakes game on Sunday. The Merengues had the chance to cut short their deficit with the league leaders to six points on the night, and nothing less than a win would be seen as a success.
Carlo Ancelotti deployed a defence of Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, Antonio Rudiger and Nacho Fernandez on the night to defend Thibaut Courtois’ goal.
Source: Real Madrid News
