JAKARTA - Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti expressed his happiness after guiding his team to the Champions League final after beating Manchester City 3-1 (6-5) in the second leg of the Champions League semifinal in Madrid, early Thursday.
This result is the third time Madrid have escaped the eye of the needle to turn around to win like against Chelsea and Paris Saint Germain (PSG) in the previous rounds.
This is Madrid's first final in four years, having last won it in the 2017/2018 season when they beat Liverpool 3-1 in that edition of the final.
Now Madrid are challenging Liverpool again in the Champions League final.
"I'm happy to be in the final in Paris against another great opponent. Thursday is used to it. This match (against Liverpool) will be a fantastic match in football," Ancelotti told UEFA's website on Thursday, quoted by Antara.
Ancelotti admits Manchester City are really tough opponents to beat that made his team almost lost.
"This game is almost over and we managed to find the last energy we had. We played a good game against a strong opponent," said Ancelotti.
"When we can equalize, we have a psychological advantage in extra time," he continued.
This is the third time Madrid have survived the eye of the needle after falling behind against PSG in the last 16 and Chelsea in the quarter-finals before beating these two teams back.
"I can't say we are used to this kind of life, but what happened tonight (against Manchester City) also happened against Chelsea and Paris (Saint Germain)," said Ancelotti.
"If you have to say why, then it is the history of this club that helps us to carry on when it looked like we were going to be eliminated."
Madrid were on the verge of failing to reach the final after Riyad Mahrez's 73rd minute goal gave City the upper hand at 1-0 in the second leg and 5-3 on aggregate.
But miraculously, Madrid came back to win after Rodrygo scored twice in the 90th and 90+1th minutes to make it 5-5 on aggregate before Benzema catapulted Madrid into the final 6-5 on aggregate with a goal from a penalty kick in the 95th minute.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
