CARLO ANCELOTTI made a superb tactical change at half-time during Real Madrid’s 2-0 win over Chelsea.
The Italian coach, 63, guided his side to the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday night as victory at Stamford Bridge sealed a 4-0 aggregate triumph.
But his former club Chelsea were causing the reigning European champions some trouble in the opening 45 minutes.
Frank Lampard packed the midfield with Enzo Fernandez and Mateo Kovacic holding and Conor Gallagher and N’Golo Kante in more forward areas – forming a box in the middle of the park.
Kante, 32, was getting some joy in the right channel as Reece James’ high position drew Eduardo Camavinga out.
And with the game goalless at the break, Ancelotti chose to move midfielder Fede Valverde in to help cover that area in the second half.
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Speaking after the game, he said: “I think that we suffered the position of Kante, that wasn’t right.
“Camavinga was used to put pressure on Reece James on the left and we had difficulty controlling the position of Kante.
“In the second half [I] changed the position. I put Valverde on the left just to control the position and we were much better there because the position in the first half Modric went to stay with Enzo and that position was not covered properly and Camavinga suffered two against one.
“Because of this there were six crosses from that side in the first half. Second half was much better.”
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Ancelotti also hailed keeper Thibaut Courtois after his brilliant first-half save to deny Marc Cucurella.
He added: “We’re very happy to reach another semi final.
“We fought a lot, it was a complicated game as we predicted. In this type of game the rival is going to give everything.
“Chelsea played very well, especially in the first half. They caused us a lot of problems, Courtois saved us, kept it 0-0 until half time.
“In the second half we played a lot better, we had a lot more quality. Chelsea lowered their intensity a bit and we were able to control the ball better.”
Real Madrid will now face either Manchester City or Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.
Man City lead 3-0 heading into the second leg of their last-eight tie with the German champions on Wednesday evening.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
