Carlo Ancelotti was shown a yellow card for protesting against Kevin De Bruyne’s equaliser as Manchester City came from a goal behind to earn a 1-1 draw against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in their Champions League semi-final first leg.
The Italian was adamant that the ball had drifted out of play in the build-up to De Bruyne’s sensational strike after 67 minutes which cancelled out Vinicius Junior’s equally unstoppable effort in the first half.
Bernardo Silva stretched to keep the ball in play moments before De Bruyne lashed a drive beyond his Belgium international teammate Thibaut Courtois from outside the box, although Real Madrid had briefly regained possession before City scored.
Ancelotti immediately appealed for a throw-in to be given after Silva’s intervention and was booked after shouting “the ball is out!” at the referee Artur Dias and his fourth official Daniele Orsato.
Stepping up when needed, Kevin De Bruyne
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 9, 2023
Man City are level in Madrid!#UCL pic.twitter.com/Hghto1D1oE
Replays were inconclusive but Ancelotti continued his protestations after the game.
“The ball was off the pitch, that’s it,” he said in his press conference. “Technology said it. I don’t understand why VAR didn’t check it. The referee didn’t pay attention to many things tonight.”
When asked by BT Sport’s touchline reporter Des Kelly why he was shown a yellow card, Ancelotti responded: “I don’t know why.”
However, BT Sport’s punditry team sided with the officials for allowing the goal to stand.
“There’s a case for both [arguments],” said ex-City defender Joleon Lescott. “There’s a lot that happens since that incident. There’s a sloppy pass from [Eduardo] Camavinga and I don’t know how or why they were giving Kevin De Bruyne so much space here on the edge of the box because he’s one of the cleanest strikers of the football.”
“He didn’t have a great angle,” added Michael Owen. “He was about three or four yards off the touchline, so he wasn’t even looking down the touchline. The linesman was only about 10 yards away. Granted he was looking at the back of Bernardo Silva but I’d be very, very surprised if Ancelotti had a great angle of that and could say categorically that it was out.”
— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) May 9, 2023
Carlo Ancelotti was complaining about Bernardo Silva’s controlling the ball out of play before City’s goal. #UCL pic.twitter.com/7GWYZpw0LC
“I thought it was out!” joked former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, before lavishing praise on De Bruyne.
“You can’t give this man this amount of space in this part of the pitch. [Luka] Modric has to get out earlier, he has to see that the way it’s going and I don’t think he looks early enough. If he knew that was De Bruyne earlier, I think he goes quicker. Look how clean that is. Nasty.”
Analysis: City and Real played football from another planet
By Daniel Storey, i‘s chief football writer
SANTIAGO BERNABEU STADIUM — Let’s start with a disclaimer, because the quality of football skirted the line between parental guidance recommended and downright naughty.
These are surely the two best teams in Europe when at peak performance, and it shows. The attacking dashes were played at double speed, the passing out from the back, a whir of passing triangles to make Pythagoras a little hot under the collar, was the surest signifier of the newest football age.
The control and one-touch distribution under pressure is another world from mid-noughties football. Whatever happened on Tuesday and may happen next week, both sides are worthy of our highest acclaim and anyone in the Bernabeu should consider themselves fortunate.
It is trite to call these special nights; you know as much by now. They began to assemble on Avenida de Concha Espina three hours before kick off, and within an hour they were a mass of white shirts and loud voices. When, 90 minutes before Real Madrid began yet another European Cup semi-final, the team coach pulled into view and began to roll down the hill, it was flanked by police horses who desperately tried to hold back the rush.
It was a flawless evening for football. The atmosphere was intense, supercharged by the pre-match street party. The hot sun had faded into late spring dusk, its rays spearing through the lattice framework of the Bernabeu’s building work. The concrete exoskeleton has been replaced by silver horizontal slats, as if a spaceship has landed in Chamartin. The aliens made a solid choice; you wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else in the sporting world.
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