Ancelotti: ‘Ball was out’ on De Bruyne equalizer

Carlo Ancelotti criticised referee Artur Soares Dias after Real Madrid‘s 1-1 draw with Manchester City in their Champions League semifinal first leg on Tuesday, saying City’s equaliser shouldn’t have stood.

Kevin De Bruyne levelled for City in the 67th minute at the Santiago Bernabeu — after Vinicius Junior had put Madrid ahead with a stunning goal in the first half — to leave the tie open ahead of the second leg at the Etihad Stadium on May 17.

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The Italian coach said he had seen TV images that showed the ball had gone out of play on the near touchline, seconds before De Bruyne’s goal.

“It looked like [the ball] was out,” Ancelotti told Movistar. “And before that, there was a corner which [the referee] didn’t give. The referee wasn’t very attentive. He gave me a yellow card, and I said, ‘Give them on the pitch, not off it!’

“It was out. It’s not me saying it; the technology does,” Ancelotti added in his postmatch news conference. “It surprises me. They’re small details, but the referee wasn’t attentive. The players deserved more cards on the pitch, not [me] off the pitch.”

The matchup is a repeat of last year’s Champions League semifinal, which saw Madrid progress 6-5 on aggregate after a dramatic 3-1 second-leg comeback at the Bernabeu.

“[The feeling] is good,” Ancelotti said after Tuesday’s game. “We competed, we fought and maybe we deserved to win. It was a good game. The result doesn’t give us our reward, but this tie will be even until the last minute.”

City coach Pep Guardiola said his team had been unable to take advantage of their control of the match in the first half and that he hoped to tweak his tactics ahead of the second leg.

“It’s football,” Guardiola said, when asked about City’s failure to score earlier. “It’s Real Madrid. I wasn’t surprised. We’ll have to see how we can find a balance, if we can attack a little bit.

“[David] Alaba and [Antonio] Rudiger were so close to Erling [Haaland]. The spaces between the centre-backs and full-backs were occupied; it wasn’t easy to find space for Erling. We’ll try to make some changes, to play with a little bit more rhythm.”