Ancelotti admits feeling more at ease with European refereeing

Carlo Ancelotti admitted that he feels much more at ease with European refereeing compared to what his team experiences in La Liga. "Statistics speak for themselves. In Europe, there is much less controversy, fewer VAR interventions, and the best referees from each country officiate, ensuring high quality," said the Real Madrid coach ahead of the Champions League round of 16 playoff second leg against Manchester City on Wednesday at the Santiago Bernabéu.

"An entertaining, complicated, and difficult match. We try to prepare well and recover players who can help us. We will try to play the same game we did last week," Carletto noted in a press conference where the focus was once again on the referees.

"It's quite surprising what's happening. We are not happy with what happened against Osasuna, Atlético, and Espanyol. These are three matches where we have been affected by decisions that I still don't understand," stated the Real Madrid coach a day after a delegation from the Chamartín club met with the refereeing body at the Ciudad del Fútbol in Las Rozas to listen to the VAR audios from the controversial match against Espanyol and express their dissatisfaction with the establishment.

"In recent matches, there have been quite clear mistakes," he limited himself to saying about the referees, a coach who expressed his disagreement with the use of video refereeing. "I have doubts. VAR has taken away a little, a lot, or too much responsibility from the referee, and when this happens, you create a dangerous system. VAR was introduced to eliminate glaring errors, not for interventions that are part of football. Many times, decisions are made based on an image, removing all the naturalness of football. I see many tackles that I don't know how many coaches agree are penalties. It's hard to understand Le Normand's penalty, just as it's hard to understand Tchouaméni's or Camavinga's penalty," he asserted.

Apart from the incessant controversy over referees, Carletto wanted to curb any overconfidence that might exist within Real Madrid regarding a well-positioned tie against City after the 2-3 at the Etihad, but open to any outcome, despite Pep Guardiola's recent claim that the 'sky blues' have only a 1% chance of winning at the Bernabéu. "He doesn't really think that. Tomorrow I'll ask him before the match. We don't think we have 99%, we think we have a small advantage that we must exploit by playing the same game as in the first leg," the Italian added.

Ancelotti is aware from past experiences of the risk involved in managing an advantage like the one his team achieved at the Etihad. "This is a psychological issue that we take into account because it has happened many times, but it's difficult to fix. You can say that we don't have an advantage and that we have to plan the match as if it were zero-zero or we have to come back, but that's nonsense because no one believes you. What you can change is the attitude, without making calculations, but you can't forget that we have an advantage," indicated a coach who has already seen his team complicate things at the Bernabéu three years ago after winning 1-3 at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge or against Leipzig last season after winning 0-1 at the Red Bull Arena.

"We have to keep playing well, with quality, sacrifice, and collective commitment," demanded a coach who declared himself satisfied with the image Real Madrid has shown in recent matches, which gives them "confidence and a positive spirit" ahead of a match for which he recovers a key defensive piece like Rüdiger. The German can play from the start, Ancelotti clarified, who was more evasive regarding other pieces of his defence, revealed that Lucas Vázquez is not yet ready to start, and did not even confirm Valverde's presence, who was injured in Saturday's league match against Osasuna.