Carlo Ancelotti happy with Real Madrid’s effort in 2-1 home win over Atletico Madrid

MADRID – Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was pleased with his side’s resilience, as they earned a 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu in a hard-fought first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on March 4.

Brahim Diaz scored the second-half winner after Atletico forward Julian Alvarez had cancelled out Rodrygo’s opener.

Vinicius Jr and Kylian Mbappe both missed good chances that could have given Real a bigger margin for the second leg, but Ancelotti was not in the mood to lament missed opportunities.

The Italian preferred to stick to the positives, which is a win against what he considers one of Europe’s best teams this season, adding that his players will need to redouble their efforts to make the most of their narrow advantage and continue their title defence.

“These are evenly matched games. It’s a round of 16 in the Champions League and it could be a final or a semi-final. Atletico are a top team in Europe and you can’t think about finishing the tie in the first leg,” Ancelotti insisted.

“We’ve gained a small advantage that gives us confidence for the second leg but that’s it. It was a difficult match as usual. It always is against Atleti.

“In the first half, we lost too many balls, we had unnecessary mistakes that almost cost us, they levelled the game with Julian Alvarez. But in the second half, we were better. We were able to take advantage and we did it.”

Ancelotti also downplayed what seemed to be a disappointing night for Mbappe and Vinicius, praising the work of Atletico’s defence in neutralising his pair of world-class attackers.

“I think playing against Atletico’s defence is not that easy a task,” he added. “We haven’t had many chances throughout the match and the two of them have worked hard, they’ve fought hard.

“They haven’t had the chance to show the quality we all know they have but they’ve got the return leg to do it.”

The winners of the tie are set to meet Arsenal, who are in a strong position to reach the quarter-finals after a 7-1 victory at PSV Eindhoven on the same night.

In other matches, two late goals, including a Marco Asensio penalty, gave Aston Villa a 3-1 win away to Club Brugge.

The scores remained level going into the closing stages after a Maxim de Cuyper strike for the hosts had cancelled out Leon Bailey’s early opener.

Brugge had been more than a match for their English Premier League visitors at the Jan Breydelstadion, but Brandon Mechele’s 82nd-minute own goal restored Villa’s lead.

Asensio, on as a substitute, then converted a penalty in the 88th, his fifth goal in four games wrapping up the victory.

“Today I am happy but calm,” Villa boss Unai Emery said as he looked ahead to next week’s second leg. “We are not in the quarter-finals. There are still 90 minutes to play and we are ready in case we need extra time and a penalty shoot-out because I know how many difficulties there can be in each match.”

Elsewhere, Lille scored with their first shot on target in the 68th minute through Hakon Arnar Haraldsson to earn a 1-1 draw at Borussia Dortmund, after Karim Adeyemi gave the hosts a half-time lead. REUTERS, AFP