Carlo Ancelotti praised Real Madrid’s performance against Athletic Bilbao, despite Los Blancos’ dropped two points and failure to overhaul Barcelona into second in La Liga.
The Italian manager confessed “it was difficult to try to win the match with ten players” after Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off, a decision that he considered “a bit exaggerated.”
“It’s tough for me to say [whether it was fair a red card] because I was not close to it, but the pictures show that it was a bit exaggerated,” he said in the press conference.
“We played well. It was a high intensity match and we hardly let them have any chances, just one in the first half and none in the second half,” he added.
Ancelotti claimed Real Madrid “did especially well in the second half. It could have been different because we scored first and dominated the match afterwards. Athletic Bilbao scored a fantastic equaliser, but overall we are going away satisfied with how we played.”
“In the first half they pressed well, it was more difficult for us in possession and we had to play more on the counter. The second half was different. They didn’t press with as much intensity and we had more possession,” Ancelotti explained.
Ancelotti suggested his team had a great chance to bring the three points home before Athletic equalised. “After Jesé’s goal we had control of the match and did not suffer. The team was well-balanced, but Ibai’s goal was a fantastic strike,” he admitted.
