Real Madrid fans and players celebrated their hard-fought win against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, earning a quarterfinal berth in the Champions League, but manager Carlo Ancelotti was more relieved than rapturous at what he said was a subpar performance.
Real secured the victory by winning a penalty shootout 4-2, after the tie ended 2-2 on aggregate, as the defending champion's bid for a record-extending 16th European Cup continues.
Ancelotti was disappointed that Real conceded a goal inside the first minute, which leveled the tie after Real had secured a 2-1 first-leg advantage at home last week.
He urged his players to be sharper, as they prepare to face Arsenal for a place in the semis.
"I have tried to explain to my players that the priority was not to make the game more complicated than it already was," Ancelotti told a news conference.
"We made it more difficult by losing unnecessary balls that constantly found us out of position. If they scored 2-0, then the game could have got out of control. We played better as the game progressed, had our chances, but we need to improve in our focus and concentration," he said.
"We always have to look for improvement. The tie was evenly matched, and a mistake could have been costly. We wanted to finish the game before penalties, sure, but here we are, still fighting and in contention, as is customary at this club."
Atletico Madrid's head coach Diego Simeone reacts after losing a penalty shootout to Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday. AGENCIES
Bellingham's praise
Madrid's Jude Bellingham was quick to praise his teammates' mental resilience.
The England international netted one of Real's four successful penalties in the shootout, as it set up a last-eight clash against the north London Premier League outfit.
"That's sometimes what it takes, those moments of composure and poise. It's not always the mad quality that you see from us," the 21-year-old told TNT.
"There is a change of mentality when we come into these games, we know that there's a certain way of winning games.
"We're very good at that. We understand game situations really well, and tonight was another example."
Real had turned on the style to beat Manchester City in its playoff clash to reach the knockout phase, beating the Premier League champion 6-3 on aggregate.
Against Atletico, in the raucous home of its rival, it was stunned inside a minute as Conor Gallagher scored for the host to level the tie on aggregate.
But Ancelotti's side dug its heels in, as the game drifted through normal time and extra time with Atletico unable to capitalize on its flying start.
Real then got served a huge slice of luck, as Julian Alvarez scored Atletico's second penalty, but then had his effort ruled out because he had slipped and inadvertently touched the ball twice.
Although Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak saved Lucas Vazquez's penalty, a miss by Marcos Llorente allowed Antonio Rudiger to squeeze the decisive penalty past Oblak, sparking jubilation among the Real players and supporters.
"Really happy. It's a huge game for us to win," Bellingham said. "It's massive for us, so important for us to get through at this stage. It will mean a lot to the fans because of who we were playing against."
Real's players celebrate their victory. AGENCIES
'Ball didn't move'
Atletico coach Diego Simeone, though, cast suspicion on the decision to rule out Alvarez's penalty.
"The referee said that, when Julian got to the penalty spot, he touched the ball with his standing foot, but the ball did not move," Simeone told reporters.
"But, beyond that, which now just serves to argue about whether it should have counted or not, I am proud of my players, I am happy, truly.
"Why? Because we competed in an exemplary way. And, yes, we could not beat Real Madrid in the Champions League, sure, we could not, but they had a really bad time (against us) again."
The Atletico coach said he wanted to believe the officials got the penalty decision right.
"I've never seen a penalty where they've called the VAR, but, well, they would have seen that he touched it.
"I want to believe, I want to believe they saw he touched it."
The coach asked members of the media to raise a hand if they had seen a replay in which it was clear Alvarez had touched the ball twice.
"Raise your hand, anyone who saw Julian touch it twice, who is going to raise their hand? Nobody has raised their hand," shouted Simeone.
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said that he felt the former Manchester City striker did touch the ball twice as he slipped.
"In the end, it's a lottery, I felt a little that he had touched it twice, that's what I told the referee, it is clearly not easy to see, but it's a bit of bad luck for them there," Courtois told Movistar.
The Belgian goalkeeper criticized Atletico for complaining about the decision, but also appeared to take a swipe at his own club, which has been relentlessly attacking Spanish refereeing in recent weeks and claiming it is "rigged".
"I think UEFA saw it clearly — I'm sick of this victimhood, always crying about stuff like this, the refs don't want to help particular teams, not in Spain, not in Europe," Courtois told reporters.
"They saw it clearly, and that's why they made that decision. They saw it clearly with VAR, they have a lot of images and cameras."
Ancelotti also believed it was the correct decision.
"They detected it, when we realized there was this doubt, they had already detected it on VAR," he said.
"I saw it, I think he touched it with his left foot, a second touch."
Agencies
