Madrid [Spain], April 10 : Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti opened up about the possible replacement for Aurelien Tchouameni, who has been suspended from the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals against Manchester City.
Tchouameni received a yellow card in the first minute of the game after he fouled Jack Grealish. This was the third yellow card that the French mid-fielder received in the ongoing competition, which means he will have to serve a one-match suspension.
After the thrilling 3-3 draw, Ancelotti revealed Nacho and Eder Militao as the two possible replacements for Tchouameni.
"Either Nacho or Militao will play. That has to be the plan for the second leg. We don't want to do too many calculations, like last year, we want to go head-to-head like we did today. We have the confidence is something positive happening. The grass in Manchester is long, like here. All that's changing is the fans. We have a slight disadvantage in that but our confidence remains unchanged," Ancelotti said in the post-match conference as quoted from the club's official website.
In the 3-3 draw, Real Madrid trailed twice and managed to fight back to end the game on level terms. City dominated the hosts in the early phases of the game which allowed the visitors to take an early lead. However, they fought back hard and matched their intensity to deny City taking any advantage.
"We put in a great performance, it was a hard-fought game. We started really poorly, conceding the early goal. After that, the team executed the press really well, we won a lot of balls and attacked well on the transitions. We could have won it, we had chances to make it 3-1. They scored two amazing goals but we showed the desire and commitment to get back into the game and level. Now we have the disadvantage of playing away from home but we can put in a repeat performance of what we saw here today," Ancelotti added.
Manchester City and Real Madrid will compete in the second leg on April 18 at the Etihad Stadium.
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