‘Unfortunately, this tie is not over’: Carlo Ancelotti insists there is ‘no way’ Real Madrid’s Champions League tie with Liverpool is over, despite the European champions earning a ‘historic’ 5-0 win -2 at Anfield
Carlo Ancelotti insists Real Madrid still have work to do in their Champions League last 16 tie against Liverpool despite thrashing the Premier League side 5-2 in the first leg at Anfield.
Ancelotti, who has won the Champions League four times as a manager, praised the defending champions’ performance on Tuesday night.
The Real Madrid manager hailed a “historic victory” but warned they will still have to suffer in the second leg despite the three-goal cushion.
“It was a historic win, mainly because if you think about where we played and how we started the game, we were two goals behind,” Ancelotti said. “But we never gave up and kept our composure, didn’t panic and came back in a very difficult game.”
“Winning like this is not easy, mainly because of how the match started. We never lost our confidence and slowly gained control of the ball. We were effective up front and Vinicius Junior put in an incredible performance.
Real Madrid took control of the Champions League last-16 tie by crushing Liverpool 5-2.
Carlo Ancelotti hailed the “historic win” but insisted his side have work to do in the second leg
“This is only the first part of a knockout tie, it’s over, but we have to imagine that in the second leg we will have to suffer and work hard.
“Obviously we didn’t expect to start the way we did, but at 2-0 I thought back to City’s away game last year in the hope that we could do the same – but it turned out to be even better.
They damaged us on our left but when we were better in our attacks we moved Valverde a bit towards that danger and then we defended better.
“Liverpool are a big team who made us suffer in the first half, so I would say that, unfortunately, this tie is not over. No way.’
Real Madrid had fallen behind to goals from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah in the early stages.
Real Madrid become first team to score five goals against Liverpool at Anfield in Europe
Ancelotti praised Vinicius Junior for ‘incredible performance’ in first leg
The Spanish champions equalized before the break with two goals from Vinicius Junior.
Real Madrid took control of the tie when Ender Militao headed home Luka Modric’s free-kick early in the second half.
A brace from Karim Benzema saw Real Madrid become the first team to score five goals against Liverpool at Anfield in European competition.
Liverpool will be looking to make an unlikely comeback when they visit the Bernabeu for the second leg on March 15.
