Carlo Ancelotti Rates Real Madrid’s Chances of Facing Arsenal After Narrow Win Over Atletico

• Real Madrid narrowly beat city rivals Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16
• The 15-time winners won the Madrid derby 2-1, with the second leg set to take place at the Metropolitano next week
• The winner of the tie will face Arsenal, who beat PSV Eindhoven 7-1 away in the first leg of their round of 16 matchup

Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 encounter, and Carlo Ancelotti has rated their chances of progressing.

Madrid were drawn against city rivals Atletico Madrid after beating Manchester City in the knockout playoffs, with their opponent finishing in the automatic spot.

The 15-time champions took an early lead through Rodrygo after makeshift right-back Federico Valverde cut open the Atletico defence with a brilliant pass.

Argentina striker Julian Alvarez scored a cracking goal to draw the match level before halftime. Brahim Diaz sealed the win for the home team esfmy in the second half.

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The second leg is slated for the Riyadh Air Metropolitano next Wednesday, and whichever team progresses will likely face Arsenal in the quarter-final.

As noted by Opta Joe, the Gunners made history by becoming the first gems to win by 7+ goals in an away match in the history of the UCL and with the second leg at the Emirates, it'd take miracles not to progress.

Ancelotti rates Madrid's chances

Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti reflected on his team's win over their rivals to have one leg in the Champions League quarterfinal before the return match next week.

“It was a difficult game, as usual. It always is against Atleti,” he said, as quoted by Football Espana. “In the first half, we lost too many balls. We had unnecessary losses. Julián scored. In the second half we were better. We were able to get the lead again, and we held on.

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“The initial plan was to play on the wings, with Vini and Rodrygo. It went well in the first play, and then we lost patience. We worked, we had control of the game. We pushed hard. But it was not the idea to press, but to be compact. And the team was compact throughout the game.”

The Italian manager refused to be drawn into discussions about potentially facing Arsenal yet, as he believes there is still a difficult second leg to play before the next round.

“We have achieved a small advantage, and we are eager to go through,” he said. It will be difficult in the return leg. Atleti will press a little more, but it will be even.

“The quality of both is very high. It is a round of 16 tie, but it could be a semi-final or a final. We are not happy to play this tie against Atleti, and they are not happy to play against Real Madrid either.”

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Arsenal shift focus to UCL

Legit.ng reported that Arsenal shifted focus to the UEFA Champions League after admitting that their chances of winning the Premier League are getting slimmer.

The Gunners have not won the UCL in their history, reaching the final in 2006, which they lost to Barcelona and returned to the competition last season after a seven-year hiatus.

Source: Legit.ng