Carlo Ancelotti believes that Real Madrid “earned more” after fought back to win a point in a 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid in LaLiga on Saturday.
Julian Alvarez led Atletico in the first half of the penalty place, a decision that Ancelotti claims “the team made”, before Kylian Mbappe saved the point five minutes after the break.
It is the third consecutive Madrid Derby in all competitions that ended in a draw, the most since a series of five between November 1978 and January 1980.
After a slow first half that Los Blancos saw failing to get one of their seven shots on goal, they had 16 attempts in the second and registered nine on goal, while Jude Bellingham also hit the woodwork.
“I think we have earned more. It was a very good game in the second half,” said Ancelotti in a press conference.
“The first half was completely different. Slower. We came up with good feelings, especially in the second half. The criminal situation met the team. We played too slowly.
“In the second half we benefited from the width of the field. Vini [Vinicius Junior] and Rodry [Rodrygo] Created a lot of danger from outside.
“It was a narrow, competitive match. As I said, we came out of the game with a draw but encouraged. The team was good in the second half.”
There was controversy in the construction of the derby after Madrid had filed a letter of complaint against the Liga match officers.
During the match, Atletico received a penalty for an error by Aurelien Tchouameni on Samuel Lino, who was awarded after a VAR review. Ancelotti, however, refused to be detailed about the decision.
“The VAR blew the whistle for the punishment,” he said when he was asked about the decision. “The referee was very close and clearly saw it.
“I saw that the VAR whistled a similar punishment in Athletic Bilbao against Girona. The people of football don't understand this.
“I don't want to go into the controversy. I'd rather talk about the game. We came from the game with a draw, encouraged. The team was good, especially in the second half.”
Madrid remained the top of Laliga with the draw and remained one point for Atletico.
After Saturday's game, the OPTA supercomputer Madrid gives a 55.3% chance to win the title compared to 21.8% for Athleti and 22.5% for Barcelona.
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