Ancelotti: Things got easier for Real once the first goal went in

Carlo Ancelotti appeared in the media room at the Power Horse Stadium to discuss Real Madrid's win over Almería.

“We expected to have to dig in here, even more so when we made life difficult for ourselves with a defensive error we could have avoided. We struggled from then on. They defended very well, we had a lot of shots on goal and once the first one went in, things got easier".

“Rüdiger put in a good performance. The younger lads didn't play like they usually do but I'm pleased with them. They struggled on an emotional level in today's game, they didn't do anything wrong but they can do better. I took Camavinga off because he was on a card and I didn't want to risk it".

“Originally, it should have been Karim or Toni taking the free-kick. Alaba strikes them really nicely from that side and Davide told me to have him take it, which he did, and he got it right. It wasn't easy to tell Karim and Toni not to have it but he took it and scored".