Ancelotti finds draw tough to take
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Article summary
AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti felt FC Bayern München "were fortunate to score" once let alone twice at San Siro but remained confident of reaching the last four.
Article body
Despite the setback of a second late Daniel Van Buyten equaliser, AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti is confident the Rossoneri can reach the UEFA Champions League semi-finals, while opposite number Ottmar Hitzfeld remains only cautiously optimistic ahead of next Wednesday's return in Germany.
Carlo Ancelotti, Milan coach
The result has left a bitter taste in our mouths but we have to forget this game immediately and start to focus on the next one. Obviously we could have done a bit better but we played well overall. I think Bayern were fortunate to score, especially the second goal. We deserved to win but I'm sure we can still triumph in Munich - we only have to play as we did tonight, keep a high tempo and make sure we press a lot in midfield. We should have defended better towards the end of the game but we were a bit tired and it was natural that we slowed down a bit.
Ottmar Hitzfeld, Bayern coach
It was a very exciting night with lots of opportunities to score on both sides. Milan played well but I knew from early in the game that they could not keep up such a high tempo for the whole 90 minutes. We would have had a good chance of going through if we had lost 2-1 but the draw is obviously a great result for us. I think Milan are better than Real Madrid [CF] defensively and are more dangerous on the break, so it will be more difficult for us than the return leg we played against Madrid in the last round. Tonight's result was fully deserved because we defended well and we only showed 70 per cent of our potential. We will not defend in Munich, we want to score.