Following Real Madrid’s impressive 2-0 victory over Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie, coach Carlo Ancelotti expressed his satisfaction with the result but emphasized the need for his team to remain focused and prepared to “fight and sacrifice” in the second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Madrid appear to be in a good position to advance to the semi-finals for the third consecutive season, having comfortably defeated Frank Lampard’s struggling Chelsea side at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio both scored for the reigning champions, while Ben Chilwell’s red card added to Chelsea’s woes.
Despite Chelsea’s recent goalless streak, Ancelotti warned his team that they would have to work hard to secure their place in the next round of the competition.
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“I know football really well and my players understand that we have another 90 minutes to play, and it will be difficult, and we have to be ready,” he told BT Sport.
“We won 2-0, we took advantage of this game, but it’s not done yet. Chelsea is a good team with good players, and we have to fight and sacrifice at Stamford Bridge. This is absolutely normal – it’s a quarter-final of the Champions League.
“We are satisfied with the game, it was a good game, and now we focus on the next.”
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Luka Modric’s close miss and a squandered late chance from Benzema kept the score down after Chelsea were reduced to 10 men, but the Madrid boss did not feel his side had failed in not finding another goal before the final whistle.
He said: “When we were against 10Â men, they put a low block, and it was not easy to find solutions.
“I think we spent a lot of energy in the game trying to press high, and so at the end, we were not so fresh to try to find another goal, but the result and the performance was good.”
Wednesday’s encounter saw Ancelotti go head-to-head with Lampard in the dugout, with the Madrid boss having coached his opposite number while himself Chelsea manager between 2009 and 2011.
“I have a good memory of him, a fantastic player,” Ancelotti said when asked about Lampard.
“I hope he will be a fantastic manager but not necessarily next Tuesday.“