The Italian coach says his team were fresher in extra time because of the substitutions he made and the opposing team's strategy
Carlo Ancelotti says Real Madrid took advantage of Chelsea's pressing tactics to secure victory in the Champions League quarter-final tie on Tuesday.
Despite having a 3-1 advantage from the first leg, Madrid were on the verge of crashing out of the competition towards the end of the return fixture in the Spanish capital.
They trailed 3-0 at Santiago Bernabeu but managed to take the game into extra-time thanks to a Rodrygo goal in the 80th minute.
Madrid went on to get the crucial goal through Karim Benzema to win 5-4 on aggregate and the Italian coach has highlighted how Chelsea's strategy played into his team's hands.
“We’ve got through because we showed the energy, particularly towards the end of the game to keep ourselves in it," he told reporters.
"All of the players stood up and were counted and it was a tough night. We didn't deserve to be 2-0 down.
"We struggled on set pieces because we were missing our best player in that department who is [Eder] Militao and what’s more, their first goal came from a rebound.
"We didn't show the desire to score goals and after going 2-0 down, the team suffered mentally. I can't explain any of the rest of it. The magic of this stadium helps the players to never give in."
He added: “I've got to keep a cool head and carefully assess what has to be done. I made the changes to try and give us a bit more energy. I then had to bring Nacho and Vinicius Jr off because they couldn't continue. There's nothing wrong with Benzema.
"Chelsea put an awful lot of effort in to their press and that gave us the edge in extra time because we were fresher than them at that stage."
Madrid now turn their attention back to La Liga duty as they take on Sevilla on Sunday. Ancelotti's team are 12 points clear at the top of the table with seven games left to play.
They will find out their next opponents in the Champions League on Wednesday when the remaining quarter-final ties are concluded.
They face the winner of the tie between Manchester City and Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals, with the Premier League side leading 1-0 on aggregate from the first leg.