Carlo Ancelotti admits Real Madrid were lucky to make the
UEFA Champions League semi-finals after a 2-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund.
With a 3-0 first-leg advantage, Real looked firm
favourites heading into Tuesday's game but Angel Di Maria's missed penalty and
a first-half brace from Marco Reus set Madrid nerves jangling.
They survived more Dortmund pressure in the second
period, Henrikh Mkhitaryan striking a post while Iker Casillas was also called
upon to make some crucial saves.
And coach Ancelotti confessed afterwards that his charges
had almost paid for their poor first-half showing.
"All games at this stage are very difficult,"
he said. "We are fortunate to be through to the semi-finals.
"We're happy to reach the semis, but not happy as we
suffered a lot. Especially in the first half. We opened the tie up again.
"We were better in the second half. Football is like
that, we gave away gifts, lots of errors, no confidence, and we suffered
because of it.
"Casillas made fantastic saves in important moments
of the game. His game was very, very good."
Casillas himself pointed to basic errors before the
break, with Pepe and then Asier Illarramendi surrendering possession in the
build-up to Reus' two goals.
"Maybe it's good for us to receive a wake-up call
like that from time to time," he said. "It's better that it came
tonight and not in the upcoming games we have.
"The first goal we conceded was from our mistake and
the second came from another error in midfield.
"We also missed a penalty. The good thing was that
we then knew how to deal with being under pressure."
Culled from Soccerway
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