Ancelotti praises players reactions
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti praised the reaction of his players after they secured a 5-1 win over Swiss club FC Basel in the Champions League. Madrid began their defence of the competition that they won in the summer with this impressive victory that refused to hide the poor start made by the club this campaign. Real have lost two out of the three league matches they have played this season and this includes a 2-1 defeat against archrivals Atletico Madrid at home. This has seen Madrid drop six points behind early-season leaders Barcelona. Ancelotti, who was largely saved by the Champions League victory last season, failed to lead the club to the league title last season as well.
Madrid could have also lost the Champions League final had it not been for the last gasp header from Sergio Ramos to equalise against Atletico. There have already been suggestions that the former Chelsea and AC Milan manager may depart Madrid in the coming weeks, but Madrid appeared to put all those problems behind them and get a convincing victory. Along with stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez and Karim Benzema also managed to get on the scoresheet.
Ancelotti will now be hoping to translate this European form into the league campaign. “The team’s reaction was good. We played with intensity, we pressured them high up the pitch and moved quickly up front. Obviously not all the problems have been solved, but I liked the team’s reaction. I think the fans will be happy with the match. The team played well, we scored a lot of goals and tried to play as well as we could,” reacted the Italian. Real have an away match against Deportivo la Coruna, who have just one win in the last five matches, during the weekend.