Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti hailed his team’s performance as “perfect” after their 6-1 romp at Schalke 04 in the Champions League’s last 16, first-leg clash.
Real are now all but guaranteed a quarter-final place, even with the return leg in Madrid to come on 18 March, after Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale both scored two goals apiece.
Real’s Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo also scored twice in the rout on his return from a three-match Spanish league suspension.
“I am satisfied about everything, because the team played a perfect game”, said Ancelotti whose side are now unbeaten in their last 27 games dating back to October.
“After the early goal, we started getting a lot of room, that was the reason for our perfect night. It was fantastic, everything went well for us”.
Despite the massive advantage, Ancelotti said the Spanish league leaders will be taking nothing for granted for the return leg.