Ancelotti: It's not easy to beat Madrid
Carlo Ancelotti took to the media room at the Legia Warszawa Stadium to reflect on his side’s draw against Shakhtar Donetsk:
“We're in good shape at this stage of the season. We're in the last 16 of the Champions League and we've done our job and showed that we never give up. We put in a very poor performance here and these things happen in football, but the important thing is not to give up when things don't go your way. We kept going until the end.”
“We played poorly and these things sometimes happen. We had the game under control in the first half and we had planned to play more down the middle than the outside. Everything became more of an uphill struggle for us after we conceded the goal and we lost our balance and began to suffer with their counter-attacks. It's quite difficult to explain. Sometimes you can be in control of games, but you concede and mentally the opposition, who defended very well, start to pose you problems. The positive thing is that we never give up and it's not easy to beat Madrid. It's a positive achievement for us to progress to the last 16 because only the teams that advance to the round of 16 can ultimately win the Champions League.”