Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti defended his tactics after their 1-1 draw with RB Leipzig.
The result was enough for Real to reach the Champions League quarterfinals 2-1 on aggregate.
Ancelotti said: "We lost our freshness, we had less control, less directness in the play and we were lazy in possession. We have to make up for this soon. We have two games before the break. There we'll have time to relax mentally because the team is tired in this regard. After the break we'll come back better. We may have Courtois and Militão for the quarter-finals and that's good news.
“Defensively it was important to keep Olmo and Simons under control with Tchouameni and Camavinga. That's where the danger was in the first leg. We opted for a 4-3-3 to let Kroos get forward a bit more. They managed to play out from the back well with the two centre-backs and the two inside players, that created problems for us and we couldn't put more pressure on them.
“We changed the system and I brought on an extra forward in Rodrygo. I used a line of four with Tchouameni and Kroos as pivots, with Bellingham on the left and Valverde on the right. If I had to change anyone in the game, I might as well have changed the coach."
