Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelloti believes Borussia Dortmund would have been worthy winners had the German side overcome his team in Saturday’s Champions League final, Soccernet.football reports.
The inevitable Los Blancos secured their 15th Champions League trophy with a 2-0 victory at the Wembley stadium in London thanks to second-half goals from Dani Carvajal and Vinícius Junior.
It could easily have been a much more different story had Dortmund utilized their chances in the first half. Madrid saw a lot of the ball but it was the Germans who looked dangerous in attack with Julian Brandt, Karim Adeyemo and Niklas Füllkrug all spurning big chances in front of goal.
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However, an improved Madrid side in the second half went ahead in the 74th minute when Carvajal headed in from Toni Kroos’ corner kick before Vini pounced on Ian Maatsen’s giveaway to seal the match for the Spanish champions.
In a post-match interview with CBS Sports, Ancelloti praised Dortmund for a match well played. In his words; “It seems quite normal, but it’s not normal. It’s something special to be able to win, this club, six Champions Leagues in ten years.
“Because, as you saw tonight, it’s difficult. Borussia Dortmund played really well, they were strong and better than us in the first half.”
In that moment, you have to stay calm, control, calm. I said to the players in the first half, ‘calm’.”It is a fantastic result because they [Dortmund] played better, they could deserve to stay up. Second half was better [for Madrid].”
When quizzed about Madrid’s improvement in the second half, Ancelotti replied: “First, we lost a lot of balls and they were strong in transition. We didn’t have a good balance. They had two opportunities, Adeyemi and Fullkrug, we could have avoided to lose the ball.
“More balance to stay strong in transition, to stay strong at the back, it was quite clear they were playing like this – low block and transition.
“They [Madrid players] were not nervous [at half-time], they were calm. I said we have to do better, they agreed they could do better. The first ten minutes of the second half they started better.”
