Carlo Ancelotti reflected on Real Madrid’s victory over Shakhtar Donetsk and seemed very positive about the team’s performance, but as every experienced and serious coach he wanted to stay with the feet on the ground and focus on the next match. He stressed the importance of keeping clean sheets as the team has had several problems with this aspect. Hopefully everything will get better at this point and keeping clean sheets + staying solid will certainly give a higher chance to get positive results and performances in continuity.
In the media room at Kiev’s, Olympic Stadium, where the boss said: “It's difficult to single out one player because they all performed very well. They all defended well. We were very focused right from the outset, we executed our strategy of pressing them high up well and we held back a little bit because the opposition are dangerous on counter-attacks, particularly in the first half. This win gives us confidence, but the game against Barcelona is a different match and it’ll be a different story”.
“It's very important that we keep clean sheets. We defended really well. When we keep a clean sheet, it gives us a better chance of winning the game. We manage to score the goals, the problem is defending well and we defend well when the whole team is committed. It's not just down to the defence, the midfielders and wingers also worked well. They did really well individually because all of them worked hard at the back”, he continued.
Vinicius Jr’s brace: “Vinicius Jr. played really well. He has improved greatly and is having a really good start to the season. He’s scored a lot of goals and is enjoying his work. He was very fresh at the end of the game and put in a lot of sprints. He's got quality and is clinical in front of goal”.
Benzema’s maturity: “Karim has good leadership skills, just as Modric and Kroos do. Six years ago, Karim was younger but he's now got more personality around him. He's still the same player. I personally liked him before and and I like him just as much or little bit more now”.
"Rodrygo played well throughout the game and I was very pleased with his defensive work as well as his contribution on the counter-attack. I don't know if he'll start against Barcelona, he might do. It's difficult to change this type of players in these games".
Middle trio: "Kroos moves the ball around neatly. He's not afraid to play when he's under pressure. I don't have to say anything about my midfielders because they've won everything there is to win. You just have to applaud them".
Mendy's return: "It was very important to see him come back because he brings a lot of quality and he defends really well. He performed very well out on the wing during the 69 minutes he played. He didn't have any issues and that's the most important thing".
Starting line-up for El Clasico: "We'll evaluate who will play against Barcelona and I'll have to make a decision on that. The team's performance was very pleasing. I've been able to rest Valverde because he came back on Saturday and the others have trained really well. We'll have to evaluate these things over the coming days".
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