jucebo
Carlo Ancelotti hailed Real Madrid after a ‘special night’ to turn PSG around and reach the Champions League quarter-final, revealing they had prepared the press that forced Gianluigi Donnarumma into a crucial error.
The Parisians had already won the first leg 1-0 and took the lead at the Bernabeu, both goals from Kylian Mbappé.
However, a Donnarumma error when pressed by Karim Benzema sparked a total psychological collapse from the whole team, as Benzema went on to complete his hat-trick in the space of 17 minutes.
The 3-1 result on the night sent Real Madrid through to the Champions League quarter-final 3-2 on aggregate and sealed yet another dismal night for PSG in this tournament.
Champions League: Donnarumma error sparks PSG collapse in Madrid
“It’s a special night because we won a very difficult and complicated game, even more complicated after Mbappé’s goal,” Ancelotti told Sky Sport Italia.
The coach revealed that harassing Donnarumma with the ball at his feet was a pre-prepared tactic, because Ancelotti knew full well that the goalkeeper’s weakness is his technique and composure on back-passes.
“We struggled to get the ball back, but with the high press we had tested out in training, we got the goal and that totally changed the game.
“The fans started pushing, we created more and more. It was a spectacular evening and we are very happy.”
Ancelotti also deserves credit for making the substitutions that turned things around at the Bernabeu.
“It wasn’t the first 45 minutes we expected, we had a lot of difficulties and that was only normal, but we slowly improved the pressing. Naturally, it’s tricky when you are one-on-one with Mbappé, but we survived.”
Benzema scored the three goals, but the biggest difference was Luka Modric taking control of the midfield after Marco Verratti had been pulling the strings in the first half.
“After that goal, the atmosphere in the stadium changed completely. The final half-hour was spectacular and it had to be, because otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to beat Paris Saint-Germain,” added Ancelotti.
“You rotate when a squad is tired. I rested Toni Kroos because he hadn’t trained, while Rodrygo and Camavinga brought fresh legs to the game.”
Real Madrid are back in it all thanks to the work rate of Karim Benzema
Forces Donnarumma into a mistake then gets in the right position to finish!#UCL pic.twitter.com/9CpWZHOpU9
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 9, 2022
