Ancelotti Relieved as Real Madrid Advances to Copa del Rey Final

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti expressed relief after his team advanced to the Copa del Rey final despite conceding four goals, acknowledging defensive concerns that need to be addressed.

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti breathed a sigh of relief after his team staged a dramatic comeback to secure a 4-4 draw against their opponents on Tuesday, advancing to the Copa del Rey final with a 5-4 aggregate win. “It was mission accomplished,” Ancelotti said, choosing to focus on the positive outcome rather than dwelling on his team's sub-par performance.

Ancelotti deflected questions about his team's mistakes and instead praised his players' effort in what he described as a highly entertaining encounter. ”We have achieved our goal today which was to reach the final and there is not much time to think about it,” Ancelotti told a press conference. “It was an entertaining game with some mistakes and a lot of good things. It was fun and we are in the final.”

Ancelotti attributed his team's ability to come from behind to their never-say-die attitude, particularly when playing at home with the support of their fans. “I never saw ourselves out of it because anything can happen at the Bernabeu,” Ancelotti said. ”When we have to come from behind, we never give up. We never give up, especially at home, with the fans by our side.”

While Ancelotti absolved David Alaba of blame for deflecting two balls into his own goal, calling it “bad luck” for the Austrian defender, he urged his defense to play with better focus moving forward.

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti acknowledged that his team's defense needs improvement after conceding four goals in their Copa del Rey semifinal match. “It's not good to concede four goals in a game,” Ancelotti said. He noted that while Real Madrid has been effective in attack, they lack balance, stating, “Right now we are a team that has a lot of effectiveness up-front, but little balance.”

👔 @MrAncelotti: "We're in the final again and we've achieved our objective"
📺 Press conference ➡️ RM Play

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Despite these defensive concerns, Ancelotti was pleased with his team's attacking performance, highlighting the difficulty of scoring four goals against their opponents. “However, we can't ignore what we did in attack, scoring four goals against Real is not that easy. I think we are doing quite well,” he said. Real Madrid's reward for advancing to the Copa del Rey final is a matchup against either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in Seville next month.

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The stage is set for a thrilling final, as Real Madrid, who have won the Spanish Cup only once in over a decade, await the winner of the Barcelona-Atletico Madrid semifinal. Atletico fought back to hold Barca to a thrilling 4-4 draw ahead of Wednesday's second-leg in Madrid, setting up a tantalizing conclusion to the semifinal tie.