Real Madrid manager, Carlo Ancelotti has heaped praised on his side’s mentality following their league win over Valencia over the weekend.
For the second consecutive time, Madrid had to react late in the game to ensure they grabbed the vital points against Los Che, having done a similar thing at the San Siro earlier in the week against Inter Milan.
Valencia took a well-deserved lead in the 66th minute of the game through former Madrid youngster, Hugo Duro, but two late goals from Vinicius Junior and Karim Benzema saw the Los Blancos come away with all three points from the Mestalla stadium.
“I have a team that fights, whether they’re playing well or badly,” Ancelotti said at full time as he lauded his side’s character. “That is the feeling that I have today.
“We didn’t play well in the first half. We were coming up with some good counter-attacks, but we were pinned back and when you’re pinned back you concede.”
“We were much better in the second half when we stayed fresher.”
The Italian manager went ahead to praise both Vinicius and Benzema, who found the back of the net to grab the win for Madrid.
The pair have had a strong start to the 2021/22 league season with the Brazilian already surpassing his total league tally for last season.
Vinicius has five goals and one assist to his name already in five games while Benzema has been directly involved in 11 goals for far, scoring six and assisting another five.
“[Vinicius and Benzema] are Real Madrid forwards, we are lucky to have them,” he said. “But I am satisfied with everyone.”
The win sees Real Madrid go top of the league table after matchday five, taking 13 points from a possible 15 available. The team takes on Real Mallorca in the next league game.
