‘Kimmich dived’ – Carlo Ancelotti hits back at critics after Real Madrid’s UCL semi-final win | OneFootball

Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti has moved to defend his side, on the back of their latest triumph on the continent.

Real, of course, are fresh off booking their spot in the finale of the Champions League.

After welcoming German giants Bayern Munich to the Spanish capital for the 2nd leg of the semi-final tie between the clubs, Los Blancos recovered from a goal down, to ultimately emerge on the right side of a 2-1 scoreline.

Post-match, though, controversy has reigned.

As much comes with those of a Bayern Munich persuasion adamant that they were on the receiving end of the most costly of officiating errors in the closing stages at the Santiago Bernabéu.

The moment in question came upon Matthijs de Ligt lashing a fine finish beyond Andriy Lunin.

A split second before, however, the whistle had been blown for offside in the buildup.

Despite replays having showcased the fact that the offside was an extremely tight call, and therefore should have been referred to the VAR room, the linesman raising his flag as the play was still developing meant that as much was not possible.

Bayern’s players, staff and fans alike were in turn quick to make clear their bemusement, with boss Thomas Tuchel having not been shy in pointing towards the officiating in Madrid as the deciding factor in the outcome of Wednesday’s clash.

Speaking in his own post-match press conference, the subject of such complaints were, in turn, put to Tuchel’s counterpart, Carlo Ancelotti.

And Real Madrid’s boss was in no mood to mince words with his response, adamant that a Joshua Kimmich ‘dive’ was responsible for his side seeing a legitimate goal of their own chalked off:

“Bayern complained about the offside? Okay, so we complain about the cancelled goal of Nacho… because Kimmich dived.”

Conor Laird | GSFN