No panic for Ancelotti

Paris Saint-Germain coach Carlo Ancelotti has downplayed the significance of his team’s 1-0 loss to Porto on Wednesday.

An 83rd-minute goal from James Rodriguez helped Porto finally capitalise on their dominance of the Champions League clash in Portugal.

But with his side sitting second in Group A despite the loss at Estadio do Dragao, Ancelotti said there was no need to panic.

“The game was complicated, but we had several opportunities, we counter-attacked, we have not suffered anything that is particularly dangerous,” Ancelotti told Sky Sports Italia.

“These are new experiences for many players, so there is always the danger to have setbacks. There is still much to play for, (it is) nothing dramatic.”

Ancelotti said he decided to substitute Ezequiel Lavezzi just seven minutes after he came on because the Argentine was suffering from ‘muscular discomforts’.

PSG defender Mamadou Sakho, who captained the Ligue 1 giants, said his team would bounce back against Marseille on Sunday.

“We did not create many chances and Porto played well. But we are very disappointed because we wanted to play a great game tonight,” he told reporters.

“There is no need to worry though. This is nothing dramatic because there are a lot of games. For OM (Marseille), we will recover well and be mentally prepared.”

Rodriguez was delighted to have scored the winner and believes his side were good value for their victory.

He told reporters after the match: “It was a difficult game. In the first half we couldn’t convert our chances. We did in the end and it was very important. I tried to score many times and thank God the last one went in.

“We knew they had a lot of good players, but we were far better tonight. We are very strong, but must take things step-by-step.”

Porto coach Vitor Pereira was delighted with his team’s performance and praised the way they approached the game.

“We were faithful to our identity, we worked the ball around the pitch with quality and we used the sides of the field very effectively,” he said.

“We also used the counter-attack very well. We were balanced and didn’t allow PSG to take advantage of our errors.”