Monday, 3rd January, 2014
Carlo Ancelotti has hit out at Cristiano Ronaldo's sending off against Athletico Bilbao yesterday, as Real Madrid slipped in the title race with a 1-1 draw.
Ronaldo was sent off after both teams had scored their goals, with the referee taking a dim view of his confrontational behaviour towards Athletic Bilbao's Carlos Gurpegi.
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Ronaldo is facing a three-match ban, and that will further heap the pressure on Real Madrid, who dropped to three points behind Atletico Madrid.
And Ancelotti believes his star man was unjustly treated, telling his club's site: "It's tough for me to say because I was not close to it, but the pictures show that it was a bit exaggerated.
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"It was difficult to try to win the match with 10 players, especially because some of them were tired.
"I made changes, but not because I wanted to try to win the match, more to put on fresher players to help the team at the end."
"We played well. It was a high intensity match and we hardly let them have any chances. Athletic Bilbao scored a fantastic equaliser, but overall we are going away satisfied with how we played."
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