Real Madrid’s boss Carlo Ancelotti have said that his team deserved all the boos and whistles after their 4-3 loss to Schalke in UEFA Champions League round-of-16 at Santiago Bernabau on Tuesday. Despite the loss Real Madrid progressed to the quarterfinals on the overall aggregate of 5-4 after their 2-0 win at Schalke’s home leg last month.
The loss also meant Real Madrid lost their first home fixture in Champions League at home since 2011 which have brought a lot of criticism and expecting Ancelotti to be sacked at the end of the season.
Their loss made the home fans boo and whistles echoed Santiago Bernabau after the final whistle and Ancelotti asked his players to use the scene as a motivational tools for the upcoming weeks with their pursuit to win both La Liga and Champions League this season.
It is clear that this hurts a lot — we have all seen we played very badly. This is not good for our image, for the image of our club. The whistles from fans are totally deserved. This is going to motivate us more, for the next game.
“We all know we have played very badly. We have no problem saying it — it is the truth. Nobody likes this moment, this type of game. We have had problems, in all aspects of the game: attack and defence, fight, concentration, motivation. It was pretty clear.”
“I don’t want to look for reasons, now is too early. I am with the team and very happy, we need to play like a team and I hope that we go back to doing it like we did at the start of the season.
“We have quality and I think that we are going to return to see the best version of Real Madrid in the next match [against Levante on Sunday]. It’s very important because we qualified for the next round. We didn’t play well, but occasionally you have to suffer. It was very tough for me but thanks to God I am very happy and I felt very excited, like the first time that I arrived here.”