Madrid prove too strong for Dortmund

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti admitted Borussia Dortmund would have been deserving winners of the UEFA Champions League had they overcome his side in Saturday’s final at Wembley Stadium.

The Spanish giants collected their 15th European crown, courtesy of second half goals from Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior.

However, the outcome could have been so much different had Dortmund not squandered first half changes from Karim Adeyemi and Niclas Fullkrug.

Speaking post-match, Ancelotti praised Madrid's mentality as a club, but was gracious in his praise of Dortmund.

"It seems quite normal, but it's not normal. It's something special to be able to win, this club, six Champions Leagues in ten years," said the Italian.

"Because, as you saw tonight, it's difficult. Dortmund played really well, they were strong and better than us in the first half.


"In that moment, you have to stay calm, control, calm. I said to the players in the first half, 'calm'. It is a fantastic result because they [Dortmund] played better, they could deserve to stay up. Second half was better [for Madrid]."

When asked to explain what changed in the second half, Ancelotti replied: "First, we lost a lot of balls and they were strong in transition. We didn't have a good balance. They had two opportunities, Adeyemi and Fullkrug, we could have avoided to lose the ball.

"More balance to stay strong in transition, to stay strong at the back, it was quite clear they were playing like this - low block and transition.

"They [Madrid players] were not nervous [at half-time], they were calm. I said we have to do better, they agreed they could do better. The first ten minutes of the second half they started better."

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