Ancelotti: "Everything went according to plan"

Ancelotti: "Everything went according to plan"

Carlo Ancelotti poured the praise on his Real Madrid side after they demolished poor Granada 9-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu in La Liga on Sunday.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored five for the first time in his career to make it 36 league goals for the season while the remaining members of the so-called 'BBC', Karim Benzema, and Gareth Bale, scored two and one respectively in a huge win on Easter Sunday.

Unsurprisingly, the Italian was full of praise for his men as they chalked up their biggest win of the season.

“Everything went to plan," Ancelotti said post-match. "My team are in good physical shape, the players are fresh and we showed that throughout the match. We played with a good tempo and scored bags of goals. We come away from this happy but this is just one game and we have other important ones coming up. On Wednesday we need to be fully focused like we were today."

Ancelotti did not single out Cristiano in the victory but put his five-goal haul down to an improvement as Madrid as a collective rather than an individual.

“He has improved just as the team have," said Ancelotti. "What can I say, this is the first time he has scored five goals in a game and that is good news for everyone: for him, for the team and in terms of the upcoming fixtures."

The Madrid boss will be fully aware of the confidence the huge win will give his troops but he said after the match that he would gladly take nine 1-0 wins for the remainder of the season.

"It's better to win nine games 1-0 than one 9-1," he said. "But today we have to point out the good play, the team are back to playing as desired, just like they have played many times before. What mattered most was winning and playing well and we have achieved that."

Back to blog