Ancelotti: It was a clear penalty

Carlo Ancelotti has insisted that his Real Madrid side should have been awarded a penalty in their 2-1 loss at Barcelona.

Los Blancos went down at Camp Nou on Saturday thanks to goals from Neymar and Alexis Sanchez, but the Coach was more concerned with Javier Mascherano’s push on Cristiano Ronaldo in the second half.

“In my opinion it is a clear penalty, I think the whole world saw it apart from the referee, who didn’t award it,” he told a Press conference.

“I think the second half was very good. We pressed more, played more – we were in control of the game and had good chances to score.

“The aim was to put him there to have some balance in midfield. After the match against Juventus, Illarra had muscle fatigue and I didn’t want to risk him because he started the season with a serious injury.

“I talked to Sergio and he was happy to play in that position. He played well, and that is why he played there.

“I think these are Bale’s first matches and he needs to get used to playing with his teammates, which is normal. He played well and he needs to look for his teammates’ runs.

“He didn’t play badly during that hour. It doesn’t make much difference for him to play on the right or in the middle. We started like that to put more pressure on Busquets, but alter 20 minutes I changed his position to on the wing to give him more room.

“I don’t think we played with three defensive midfielders because Modric isn’t a defensive midfielder. Khedira and Ramos played defensively to give the team balance. Carvajal played with an attacking mindset, so did Marcelo, Di María is a forward, Ronaldo as well… I don’t think that Barcelona played with as many forwards.

“They only played with Messi and Neymar. It was a great match with fantastic atmosphere. I think it was a great spectacle against a great team. We set out to win.”

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