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After the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 match between "Bayern" and "Milan" ended in a 1-1 draw, the coaches of both teams came to the press conference with different moods. Bayern's coach Felix Magath was disappointed by Andriy Shevchenko's equalizer goal and despite his team's dominance, they were unable to secure a victory. On the other hand, "Milan" coach Carlo Ancelotti was pleased with the result.
"I am very unsatisfied with the result because we dominated the first half and were definitely the better team before the break. However, we played too passively in the second half. My plan was to bring on two fresh players after an hour and keep the pressure on 'Milan,' but conceding the goal did a lot of damage to us and we didn't have many opportunities after that," regretted F. Magath.
Bayern's coach also praised goalkeeper Michael Rensing, who unexpectedly entered the Champions League fray and assured that in the away leg they will try to aim for a victory: "The young Michael Rensing was fantastic, saving us from Shevchenko's shot in the final minutes. A 1-1 draw at home is definitely not what we wanted, but we still have hopes of progressing to the quarterfinals. We proved that we are just as strong as they are, and that we can even dominate. In the second leg, they will be without the suspended Gennaro Gattuso, so that's another advantage for us. I don't see why we couldn't win in Milan."
According to C. Ancelotti, this result is favorable for his team, but the second leg should not be taken lightly: "I am satisfied with the draw, and I believe it gives us good opportunities to move forward. But everyone could see that 'Bayern' is a dangerous and very strong team, so we must be very cautious at home. We started the match very timidly, but the game was good and maintained a high level for the entire 90 minutes. After the equalizer, we had a lot of space for another goal, but unfortunately we couldn't score. I think this pair is evenly matched, and the second leg will be as difficult as this match."
