Ancelotti fumes as Man City's controversial equalizer against Real Madrid not checked by VAR

Sports

TBS Report
10 May, 2023, 04:05 am
Last modified: 10 May, 2023, 04:15 am
Replays were inconclusive but Ancelotti continued his protestations after the game.

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.

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."

"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."

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