Izuchukwu Okosi
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Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti is not expecting an easy tie for Paris Saint-Germain against his team in their second leg fixture of the UEFA Champions League round of 16.
Madrid were defeated 1-0 by PSG in the first leg on Tuesday night courtesy of a Kylian Mbappe late strike.
Speaking with the club media Ancelotti said: “We now face the return leg back at our place and we haven’t got that concern about the away goals rule. That could end up helping us. Should we be optimistic?
“PSG clearly have a small advantage and I hope that it doesn’t prove enough in the game back at the Bernabéu. I’m optimistic because we’ll go out there with 11 players and 50,000 fans inside the Bernabéu. That’s why I’m optimistic,” the Italian tactician said effusively.
Ancelotti admitted that his team were not great going forward albeit they performed okay defensively as they struggled in their own half.
“We were made to suffer. We performed pretty well defensively. We weren’t very aggressive and failed to perform when in possession. We really struggled to overcome PSG’s press in our half and that’s why we didn’t create any clear-cut chances.
“We struggled to get out of our half and couldn’t get the ball out wide to Asensio and Vini Jr., whilst Karim (Benzema) didn’t have any chances to get on the ball.
“There’s no fancy explanation for it. That’s just how it played out. We didn’t perform as we wanted to in possession.
“Too conservative means you have to try your luck at times and Courtois needs to send out a long ball. Our quality didn’t come through because we really struggled against the press.
“We needed to be a bit more aggressive in the low block but it wasn’t a conservative approach, to try and use the ball when we had it, as we usually do, but it wasn’t to be today,” the former Chelsea, AC Milan and Everton manager added.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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