Dortmund coach Matthias Sammer has dimissed the suggestion that German foootball was in crisis,despite the fact that no club from the Bundesliga reached the last eight of the competition.
With Dortmund needing to beat Milan at the San Siro and Real Madrid having to lose at Lokomotiv Moscow, Sammer has said that he is not shocked that Madrid won in Russia.
“This year’s Champions League is over for us and we must look forward,’ stated Sammer. ‘We are not surprised that Madrid won in Moscow.”
“We didn’t lose a place in the quarter-finals tonight, we lost that place when we drew against Real Madrid at home.”
With Dortmund the last hope for a German team in the final stages of the competition, Sammer was quick to point out that German football is not in crisis.
“There is no crisis in German football,” he said. “We do not have a team in the last eight this year but last year it wasthe same for Italy and now no one here is talking about a crisis.”
Meanwhile Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti has admitted that recent results for his side have been poor but was pleased to be going through. Milan, who have not won in 5 games, still finished top of the group, and that pleased Ancelotti.
“Obviously I am not happy with the run of results and we could have done more in attack today,” said Ancelotti.
” We finished top of the group and are in the quarterfinals, so that’s something to be happy about.”
In Moscow, Real Madrid coach Vincente del Bosque will have been a relieved man to come away with a vital win.
Madrid now go through with Milan thanks to a solitary Ronaldo goal, which put them second in the group. With the Lokomotiv pitch in a terrible state Del Bosque was unsure of his sides chances before kick-off but believed his sides class would get them through.
“Yesterday after our training session here we were unsure whether we would be able to score on that field,” he said.
“The pitch conditions added difficulties and we were lucky to score the goal we needed. In spite of all the difficulties, our class of play showed through.”
Del Bosque added: “There won’t be a big celebration tonight by our team because making it to the quarterfinals should be considered a must for a team like Real.”
Lokomotiv coach Yuri Semin paid tribute to his teams campaign but was not happy with his sides result against Madrid last night.
“In the competition with the best teams and best players in Europe, we looked quite good,’ he said.
‘Some matches were better, some worse, but we gave our supporters good play – although we are not happy with the result.”
Semin also pointed to the fact that the competition has been great experience for his side and wished Madrid well in the rest of the campaign.
“It has been a valuable experience, we’ve had a fine campaign and I wish Madrid the best of luck in future rounds.”
