Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has said picking up three points in the opening La Liga fixture was more important that the performance itself.
Los Blancos saw off Cordoba 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Monday night with goals from Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo. But they make hard work of the match, while the visitors deserve much praise for a resolute performance.
A small section of the home support whistled as the game went on, annoyed at the slow and sluggish performance put in by many of the Real players. But speaking to the press after the game, Ancelotti said the most important factor was the three points, while performances will improve as the new players adjust and the overall fitness of the team gets better.
“We need to play quicker and up the tempo of the game. The important thing was to start with a victory, we struggled, but everything worked out fine. The team is balanced. We controlled the match well and we didn’t give away chances,” Ancelotti said.
The Italian stated he hadn’t heard any whistling and that the struggles in the match were just due to rustiness at the start of the season.
“We struggled with tiredness. We’ve played every three days and it is a point of the season that is not easy. But we didn’t struggle much, the match was under control. I didn’t hear any whistling. When we struggled the fans helped us,” he said.
And he denied the sale of Angel di Maria has left his squad short of options in midfield and on the creativity front.
“No, we have one player fewer but we have players who can play in different places on the pitch. There are midfielders who can play further forward. We are fine with this squad,” he told journalists.
