Ancelotti: "You can't fault our group stage"
"We've done really well, we've played with consistency and the quality of play has improved compared to the start of the season," added the coach.
Carlo Ancelotti spoke in the press room at the Olympiastadion Real Madrid‘s victory over Union Berlin, which meant the Whites finished the group stage with a 100%-win record after winning all six games: “You can't fault our group stage. We've done really well, we've played with consistency and the quality of play has improved compared to the start of the season. The only drawback in the last two games is that we didn't manage the lead well: not today with a 1-2 lead nor against Betis with a 0-1 lead. We have to maintain good possession when we're in the lead, but that's not enough: we have to finish it.”
“The positive thing about that game is that Ceballos scored an important goal for him and for us. He also played a complete game. Joselu displayed his quality, he's a great finisher in the box and sometimes we have to exploit that more, as we did in the second half. In the first half, we played very good football, but we didn't utilise Joselu very much. He got a shot off in the first half and in the second half he scored two goals. The injury problem has given opportunities to those who play less and they're taking advantage of it quite well.”
Halftime team talk
“I told them that they played very well for 40 minutes and there were two minutes of madness. It was a slip-up that we had to sort out.”
Bellingham
“He got a stupid yellow card, but he's doing very well and is in top physical condition. There was no risk in this game. The only change that was prepared was Kroos and Valverde because they were a bit tired and I didn't want to give them too many minutes. The others were fine.”
Three missed penalties
“It's difficult to find a reason because Luka tends to be calm and to score. It's happened to him twice. It's not so easy to coach him this because it's a problem with the surroundings. Hopefully this can change.”
Fran García
“He was very good defensively and offensively. He provided the assist for the second goal and in the second half I changed Rodrygo's position to get more crosses in. He put in one cross and Fran did the other. It was what we had to do.”