By Sean Walsh
Borussia Dortmund would have been deserving winners of the Champions League had they beaten Real Madrid in Saturday's final, according to Carlo Ancelotti.
Madrid won their 15th European Cup with a 2-0 victory at Wembley, courtesy of second-half goals from Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior.
However, Dortmund squandered several chances to score themselves, with Karim Adeyemi and Niclas Fullkrug notably going close in a first half dominated by the Bundesliga side.
Nevertheless, Madrid managed to force a breakthrough and held on late in the day to secure their sixth Champions League title in the last decade alone.
Speaking to CBS Sports post-match, Ancelotti praised Madrid's mentality as a club, but was gracious in his praise of Dortmund.
"It seems quite normal, but it's not normal. It's something special to be able to win, this club, six Champions Leagues in ten years," Ancelotti said.
"Because, as you saw tonight, it's difficult. Borussia Dortmund played really well, they were strong and better than us in the first half.
"In that moment, you have to stay calm, control, calm. I said to the players in the first half, 'calm'.
"It is a fantastic result because they [Dortmund] played better, they could deserve to stay up. Second half was better [for Madrid]."
When asked to explain what changed in the second half, Ancelotti replied: "First, we lost a lot of balls and they were strong in transition. We didn't have a good balance. They had two opportunities, Adeyemi and Fullkrug, we could have avoided to lose the ball.
"More balance to stay strong in transition, to stay strong at the back, it was quite clear they were playing like this - low block and transition.
"They [Madrid players] were not nervous [at half-time], they were calm. I said we have to do better, they agreed they could do better. The first ten minutes of the second half they started better."
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This article was originally published on 90min.com as Carlo Ancelotti admits Borussia Dortmund were better than Real Madrid in Champions League final.
