Ancelotti: "We needed to be a bit tougher"

Carlo Ancelotti spoke in the press room at the estadio de Vallecas after the game: “We needed to be a bit tougher. We had trouble playing out from the back. We could’ve played more direct balls forward and we lost a few individual duels. The quality was lacking a bit for us to draw the game. We had chances to score that we’d put away normally and we were a bit below par in terms of toughness”.
 
“It’s not related to the World Cup. We’re heading into the break a bit stretched because we’ve played a lot of games. This is happening to every team. It’s hard to make it to the end and even more so when you play every three days. We’re not as fresh as we were before. In these types of games when the opposition presses you and is aggressive, you need players with fresh legs. It’s a normal thing. We’ve dropped off a bit but we’re still in the fight for everything. We’re disappointed we’re not top, but it’s a long league season. The players are focussed and doing their best. Sometimes things don’t go your way”.
 
On the difficulty playing out from the back
“We lost a lot of individual battles. I’m talking about Vinicius, Rodrygo and all the rest, who normally do a good job. It was a difficult game for everyone, especially for Vini. When it’s hard to play out from the back, the forwards suffer the most. Vini was closely marked and he always is”.

Strategy
“The problem in today’s game wasn’t a physical one. When I talk about winning balls and strength, I’m not talking about the physical element. Not getting the ball out from the back could be because of strategy, which perhaps wasn’t the most appropriate. We didn’t play the long ball. The manager may have failed somewhere.”
 
Evaluation
“We are disappointed and bothered by the defeat. The team has performed really well in this first stage of the season. We will look at what happened today. But now we have to think about our next match. I’m not disappointed with my players. We lacked the strength that our opponent had. We lost the head-to-head battles. Quality won’t let you win if you don’t equal your opposition’s attitude.”

Champions League draw
“Liverpool will say the same thing about the draw. It’ll be a very entertaining tie and a very tough one. There’ll be a great atmosphere at Anfield and also at the Bernabéu. It’ll be a spectacular tie”.