Winning mentality got us through Champions League Madrid derby, says Jude Bellingham

MADRID – Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham praised his side’s mental strength as they edged past Atletico Madrid 4-2 on penalties to reach the Champions League quarter-finals on March 12.

Carlo Ancelotti’s team were not at their best and lost 1-0 after extra time to leave the tie 2-2 on aggregate. But once again, the holders found a way to progress and stay on course to lift the trophy for a record-extending 16th time.

England midfielder Bellingham netted one of Real’s four successful penalties in the shoot-out as they set up a last-eight clash against English Premier League side Arsenal.

“That’s sometimes what it takes, those moments of composure and poise. It’s not always the mad quality that you see from us,” the 21-year-old told TNT.

“There is a change of mentality when we come into these games. We know that there’s a certain way of winning games.

“We’re very good at that. We understand game situations really well, and tonight was another example.”

Real had turned on the style to eliminate Manchester City in the play-offs to reach the knockout phase, beating the Premier League champions 6-3 on aggregate.

Against Atletico, in the raucous home of their rivals, they were stunned inside a minute as Conor Gallagher scored for the hosts to level the tie on aggregate.

But Ancelotti’s side dug in their heels as the game drifted through normal time and extra time, with Atletico unable to capitalise on their flying start.

They then got a huge slice of luck as Julian Alvarez scored Atletico’s second penalty but then had his effort ruled out because he had slipped and inadvertently kicked the ball twice.

“The referee said when Julian got to the penalty spot, he touched the ball with his standing foot, but the ball did not move,” Atletico coach Diego Simeone told reporters.

“But beyond that, which now just serves to argue about whether it should have counted or not, I am proud of my players. I am happy, truly.

“Why? Because we competed in an exemplary way. And yes, we could not beat Real Madrid in the Champions League. Sure, we could not, but they had a really bad time (against us) again.”

The Atletico coach said he wanted to believe the officials got the penalty decision right.

He said: “I’ve never seen a penalty where they’ve called the VAR (video assistant referee), but well, they would have seen that he touched it. I want to believe, I want to believe they saw he touched it.”

He asked members of the media to raise their hand if they had seen a replay in which it was clear Alvarez had touched the ball twice.

“Raise your hand, anyone who saw Julian touch it twice, who is going to raise their hand? Nobody has raised their hand,” shouted Simeone.

In the wake of Alvarez’s disallowed penalty, Uefa said on March 13 that it would consider a potential rule change.

“Although minimal, the player made contact with the ball using his standing foot before kicking it,” Uefa said in a statement.

“Under the current rule, the VAR had to call the referee signalling that the goal should be disallowed.

“Uefa will enter discussions with Fifa and Ifab (International Football Association Board) to determine whether the rule should be reviewed in cases where a double touch is clearly unintentional.”

Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois criticised Atletico for complaining about the decision, but also appeared to take a swipe at his own club, who have been attacking Spanish refereeing recently and claiming it is “rigged”.

“I think Uefa saw it clearly – I’m sick of this victimhood, always crying about stuff like this, the refs don’t want to help particular teams, not in Spain, not in Europe,” the Belgian told reporters.

Although Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak saved Lucas Vazquez’s penalty, a miss by Marcos Llorente allowed Antonio Rudiger to squeeze his decisive penalty past Oblak to spark scenes of joy among the Real players and supporters.

Said Ancelotti: “We made it more difficult by losing unnecessary balls that constantly found us out of position... If they scored 2-0, then the game could have got out of control...

“We played better as the game progressed, had our chances, but we need to improve in our focus and concentration.

“We always have to look for improvement. The tie was evenly matched and a mistake could have been costly.

“We wanted to finish the game before penalties, sure, but here we are, still fighting and in contention, as is customary at this club.” REUTERS, AFP