Carlo Ancelotti has expressed disappointment in his charges’ performance in their 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich in their UEFA Champions League semi final first leg – tagging them “soft” for their defensive set up.
The Italian held nothing back when expressing his disappointment of his team’s performance at the Allainz Arena.
Vinicius Junior handed the Spanish giants the lead in the first half but the hosts netted twice in the space of four minutes in the second half to turn the contest on its head, however, Vinicius equalised from the penalty spot to level the tie.
Speaking to Movistar Plus+, the Los Blancos manager said: “The result is good but on a level of play we could have done better. Bayern showed their best version and we didn’t. We have to improve for next week.
“In the first half we defended but with little intensity, in the second half when they took the lead we started to press a bit more, but not enough.
“The feeling was that we were comfortable, but we lacked intensity. We gave them too many chances to take control of the game. We didn’t want to play in a low block and we went on doing that. We were soft.”
Toni Kroos, who provided a world class assist to set up Vinicius’ opener, was visibly upset when coming off and Ancelotti defended his decision to substitute the German midfielder who was arguably the Spanish outfit’s best performer on the night.
Ancelotti explained he made the four substitutions to shake his team up and was pleased with getting the equaliser that he believes “left the tie open” for the return leg next week in Madrid.
“Jude Bellingham had a cramp, Toni Kroos played a spectacular game but the plan was to try to recover the control of the game by putting fresh legs in,” Ancelotti said in a presser.
“As always, at this point in the season, we have a great opportunity to play in another final. It’s an even tie against a great team. It will be another 90 minutes of suffering but in an atmosphere that we know quite well. The fans are going to help us.”
