“It would have been a different game with video replays” - Carlo Ancelotti’s old quotes as Bayern coach from 2017 UCL defeat to Real Madrid resurface
Ahead of Real Madrid's UEFA Champions League semifinal second leg at home to Bayern Munich on Wednesday (May 8), Los Blancos boss Carlo Ancelotti's comments about Bayern's 2017 UCL defeat to Madrid have emerged. The Italian managed Bayern between December 2015 to May 2018.
The game in question is the 2016-17 quarterfinal between Madrid and Bayern. After Los Blancos won the first leg 2-1 in Germany, thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo brace, the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu went to extra time, with Bayern leading 2-1 after 90 minutes and the tie 3-3 on aggregate.
In the extra period, though, Ronaldo scored two contentious goals to complete his hat-trick, while Marco Asensio scored another, as Zinedine Zidane's charges romped through to the semifinals.
Before that, though, Arturo Vidal saw red for a soft challenge as Bayern went to extra time with 10 men. Ronaldo's second of the night - in the 104th minute - should have been called out for offside, but the call never came, with VAR not in use for the game.
Similarly, Ronaldo's hat-trick goal - his 100th in the UCL - was also contentious, as he was in an offside position when Marcelo broke through the Bayern defence, two calls that would have been overturned by VAR.
Ancelotti lamented post-game about the refereeing decisions that went against his then team Bayern (via Mirror):
"We played very well, and I think we deserved more. The decisions penalised us a lot. Vidal's second card should not have been a yellow. There should be a referee with more quality in a game like this or put the video referee because there were too many errors.
"Maybe Vidal has to calm down but the second yellow card is a mistake from the referee. I'm not saying we would have gone through with a different referee, but the referee had a bad game. It would have been a different game with video replays. There are a lot of decisions that generate doubt, but there is no doubt here - Vidal touches the ball, I saw it as it happened."
Real Madrid would go on to win the competition, beating Juventus 4-1 in the final, with Ronaldo scoring a brace.
A recap of the UEFA Champions League semifinal first leg between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich this season
Real Madrid and Bayern Munich produced a rousing UEFA Champions League semifinal first leg in Bavaria last week.
The visitors got off to a perfect start, with Vinicius Junior opening the scoring inside 24 minutes, and led at the break. Bayern, though, improved after the break, with Leroy Sane scoring a fine equaliser eight minutes into the second period.
Summer signing Harry Kane then gave Bayern the lead four minutes from the spot. But a win wasn't to be for Thomas Tuchel's men, as Vinicius scored a spot-kick of his own seven minutes from time to keep the tie tantalisingly poised.