"They showed that with sacrifice, it is possible" - Ancelotti on front line's defensive commitment

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was very satisfied with his team's performance against Manchester City, and assured that it will give them a lot of confidence to face the final part of the season.
“The tie could not be settled here. We have a slender lead, we must be happy with the result. We had a lot of chances, and City also played a great game and created problems for us. A game like this strengthens us for the next ones,” he said at the press conference after the 2-3 win over Pep Guardiola's team.
Ancelotti considered that it was a “complete” match for Real Madrid, but not the best match in the Champions League since he has been Real Madrid's coach.
“Defensively, we had doubts as to whether we could have balance with this team, and today they showed that we can. Today everyone made sacrifices, and then the quality of the team is evident,” he added. In the Italian's opinion, now the real season begins, so the victory marks the way forward for his team.
“The back four had never played together before, and they had never even trained together. The two center-backs played a spectacular game. Valverde and Mendy have been very good, Raul (Asencio) continues to surprise for the age he is...”, he said.

Regarding the banner displayed by the City fans in which they considered Real Madrid “crybabies” for not accepting the Ballon d'Or that Rodri won over Vinicius, Ancelotti considered that if the Brazilian saw it it would have been a “motivation” for him, judging by his good game.
Despite his satisfaction, he considered that the 2-3 is a “tricky result, because it can lead you to relax”, which is why he called on his players to make “the same sacrifice” in the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The coach admitted that at halftime he corrected the high pressing of his players on City's ball exit, which in his opinion was the reason for the Cityzens opener, but that offensively he did not change anything, as Vinicius and Rodrygo “created a lot of danger on the flanks”.
“The plan was to press high when Ederson played the ball and in the rest of the game to have a solid midfield without going crazy in the pressing, with the midfielders close to the back line. In attack, with the ball wide, handle possession well, and not get frustrated with long balls,” he added.