Izuchukwu Okosi
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was a relieved man after his team navigated through a difficult quarterfinals second leg game against defending champions Chelsea at the Santiago Bernabeu Tuesday night.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelChelsea won the tie 3-2 but failed to advance having lost to Real Madrid 3-1 in the first leg at Stamford Bridge.
France hitman Benzema produced a carbon-copy of the two headed goals he scored in last week’s quarter-final first-leg at Stamford Bridge after Rodrygo struck late to take the game to extra time.
Mason Mount, Toni Rudiger and Timo Werner had scored the Blues’ three goals and were on the cusp of producing a miracle in Madrid
“The more I suffer, the happier I am,” Ancelotti told a packed news conference with a smile late Tuesday night.
“It was a lot of suffering, though. We were losing 2-0 (against Chelsea) but I believe we didn’t deserve it, the team did well. We were not in a hurry to score, we didn’t need it, but for me when they scored the second they didn’t deserve it.”
Ancelotti hailed his players’ attitude for never giving up, even after going 3-0 behind with 15 minutes remaining.
Rodrygo brought the tie level at 4-4 on aggregate to force extra time in which Karim Benzema headed the decisive goal.
“We won (the tie) because we had the energy to keep the match alive. The players were brave and faced it like warriors”, he said.
“The match was difficult, we knew that, but it was more complicated. After their second goal, the team had a psychological downturn, but the magic of this stadium helps the players and the team a lot to never give up.”
We have to be proud of what we did, we played a very tough round of 16 against PSG, now against the defending champions Chelsea in the quarter-finals to go through the semi-finals, so I can’t be happier.”
Real Madrid, the most successful European side with 13 Champions League titles will face the winner of the Manchester City and Atletico Madrid showdown in the semifinals while Villarreal awaits the winners of the Liverpool versus Benfica game.
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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