16 March 2023 , 06:47
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Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has rubbished the notion his team's 1-0 victory against Liverpool on Wednesday night was an "easy" game.
Ancelotti's side dumped the Reds out of the Champions League after a 6-2 aggregate victory. Real won the first leg at Anfield 5-2 last month and stopped Liverpool from mounting a comeback at the Bernabeu, with Karim Benzema scoring a second-half goal.
Jurgen Klopp's men were expected to fly out of the blocks on Wednesday night in a bid to score an early goal and make their momentous a task a little bit easier. Yet the hosts kept their guests at bay and stuck to Ancelotti's carefully considered plan.
The Italian coach was asked whether it was an "easy" game by Manchester United icon Peter Schmeichel in his post-match interview with CBS Sports. Ancelotti replied, "It was an easy game at the end. We were worried at the beginning, of course."
Ancelotti added, "I think we managed the ball really well from the back. Taking into consideration that [Toni] Kroos and [Luka] Modric - they have a lot of ability and experience to move the ball. For that reason, I think we had a good control.
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"We were quite dangerous up front, we didn't risk a lot behind [defence]. That was the match we wanted to plan."
Real Madrid eased to victory on Wednesday night (AFP via Getty Images)Do you think Real Madrid will win the Champions League again this year? Let us know in the comments below!
A lot of the talk heading into Wednesday night's game was about Liverpool's famous Champions League comebacks. They recovered from three goals down to beat AC Milan in the 2005 final, while they did the same against Barcelona in the semi-finals four years ago.
Ancelotti admits his players were confident of winning but were not complacent. He said, "We were confident, but you never know. You cannot be confident 100 per cent because the people of football knows that everything can happen, everything can happen.
"We have to be focused because maybe you concede a goal in the first minute of the game and it will be more difficult. We were really serious in all the minutes of the game. We can say now it was not a difficult game - [but only] after [full-time]."
Matchwinner Benzema appeared to pick up an injury at the end of the game, which will concern fans ahead of Real's game against Barcelona on Sunday night. Real are currently nine points behind their bitter rivals in the LaLiga title race with 13 games to go. Yet Ancelotti confirmed, "He had a knock, only a knock. He will be OK for Sunday."
The draw for the quarter-finals of the Champions League takes placed in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday afternoon. Real will be joined in the last eight by Bayern Munich, Benfica, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Manchester City, AC Milan and Napoli.
Ancelotti is not too concerned about the draw. He is also "happy" to see three Italian sides reach the quarter-finals. Ancelotti won four European Cups as a player and a manager with Milan. He noted, "This is a good sign for Italian football. I'm really happy for this."