Surviving a scare: Real’s Schalke implosion 'incomprehensible' for Ancelotti
Holders lose 3-4 at home but scrape through to quarter-finals 5-4 on aggregate
A 2-0 first leg advantage was just enough to carry Los Blancos into the last eight for a fifth consecutive season on a night when Cristiano Ronaldo's achievement in becoming the all-time leading scorer in European competitions was overshadowed. PHOTO: AFP
MADRID/PORTO:
Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti admitted he is at a loss to explain the European champions’ dramatic slump in form as they sneaked into the quarter-finals of the Champions League despite losing 4-3 to Schalke on Tuesday.
A 2-0 first leg advantage was just enough to carry Los Blancos into the last eight for a fifth consecutive season on a night when Cristiano Ronaldo's achievement in becoming the all-time leading scorer in European competitions was overshadowed.
Ronaldo twice equalised in the first-half to surpass Real legend Raul with 78 goals in European competitions after Christian Fuchs and Klass-Jan Huntelaar had given Schalke the lead.
Karim Benzema then put Madrid in front on the night before Leroy Sane and a stunning strike from Huntelaar gave Schalke a deserved victory.
Ancelotti's men swept all before them in a 22-game winning run to end 2014 with a club record four-trophy haul for the calendar year after winning the Club World Cup.
However, since the turn of the year they have lost five times in 15 games to surrender their La Liga lead to Barcelona and were on the verge of suffering one of the biggest shocks in Champions League history.
"We are playing very badly. It is quite incomprehensible after what we did until December," said Ancelotti. "It is clear I feel very sorry because everyone has seen we played very badly. This is not good for the image of the club.”
The Italian was quite frank in his assessment. “It is normal that the players lack confidence,” he added. “I think we have dipped a bit physically too. We had problems in every aspect of the game: offensive, defensive, desire, fight and concentration."
Ancelotti was even asked whether he fears the sack in the coming days with a crucial El Clasico clash against Barcelona in the La Liga title race to come on March 22. "I don't think about it [being sacked]. I continue doing my job, but I need to do it better. This is the responsibility of the coach to put out a team that can play better than they did tonight.
The manager also insisted he still has faith in the players that carried the club to their 10th European Cup win just 10 months ago. "I continue having total confidence in this squad because I know what they can do. We are not doing it at the moment and we need to work harder, train harder, do everything better."
Porto crush Basel to reach quarter-finals
Porto remained unbeaten in the Champions League this season and qualified for the quarter-finals for the first time since 2009 as they defeated Swiss side Basel 5-1 on aggregate.
Goals from Yacine Brahimi, Hector Herrera, Casemiro and Vincent Aboubakar combined for a 4-0 win at the Estadio do Dragao, and continued Basel's poor form in Portugal as their coach Paulo Sousa endured a miserable return to his homeland.
Porto coach Julen Lopetegui said he was both happy and proud at his side's passage into the last eight. "You have to applaud the entire team for this fantastic performance against a very difficult opponent who came here determined to qualify," said Lopetegui. "We deserve to be in the Champions League quarter-finals even if we came through qualifying. I am very happy and very proud of my players who showed a lot of character."
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Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti admitted he is at a loss to explain the European champions’ dramatic slump in form as they sneaked into the quarter-finals of the Champions League despite losing 4-3 to Schalke on Tuesday.
A 2-0 first leg advantage was just enough to carry Los Blancos into the last eight for a fifth consecutive season on a night when Cristiano Ronaldo's achievement in becoming the all-time leading scorer in European competitions was overshadowed.
Ronaldo twice equalised in the first-half to surpass Real legend Raul with 78 goals in European competitions after Christian Fuchs and Klass-Jan Huntelaar had given Schalke the lead.
Karim Benzema then put Madrid in front on the night before Leroy Sane and a stunning strike from Huntelaar gave Schalke a deserved victory.
Ancelotti's men swept all before them in a 22-game winning run to end 2014 with a club record four-trophy haul for the calendar year after winning the Club World Cup.
However, since the turn of the year they have lost five times in 15 games to surrender their La Liga lead to Barcelona and were on the verge of suffering one of the biggest shocks in Champions League history.
"We are playing very badly. It is quite incomprehensible after what we did until December," said Ancelotti. "It is clear I feel very sorry because everyone has seen we played very badly. This is not good for the image of the club.”
The Italian was quite frank in his assessment. “It is normal that the players lack confidence,” he added. “I think we have dipped a bit physically too. We had problems in every aspect of the game: offensive, defensive, desire, fight and concentration."
Ancelotti was even asked whether he fears the sack in the coming days with a crucial El Clasico clash against Barcelona in the La Liga title race to come on March 22. "I don't think about it [being sacked]. I continue doing my job, but I need to do it better. This is the responsibility of the coach to put out a team that can play better than they did tonight.
The manager also insisted he still has faith in the players that carried the club to their 10th European Cup win just 10 months ago. "I continue having total confidence in this squad because I know what they can do. We are not doing it at the moment and we need to work harder, train harder, do everything better."
Porto crush Basel to reach quarter-finals
Porto remained unbeaten in the Champions League this season and qualified for the quarter-finals for the first time since 2009 as they defeated Swiss side Basel 5-1 on aggregate.
Goals from Yacine Brahimi, Hector Herrera, Casemiro and Vincent Aboubakar combined for a 4-0 win at the Estadio do Dragao, and continued Basel's poor form in Portugal as their coach Paulo Sousa endured a miserable return to his homeland.
Porto coach Julen Lopetegui said he was both happy and proud at his side's passage into the last eight. "You have to applaud the entire team for this fantastic performance against a very difficult opponent who came here determined to qualify," said Lopetegui. "We deserve to be in the Champions League quarter-finals even if we came through qualifying. I am very happy and very proud of my players who showed a lot of character."
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