Second half goals from Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo helped Real Madrid to take all three points against unimpressive Elche and a four point lead over second place Barcelona in the standings on a night of personal landmarks for the Los Blancos staff.
It was a 100th game in charge for Carlo Ancelotti while Iker Casillas also took a step forward to become a club legend by making his 500th appearance for Real Madrid.
Elche were struggling to defend against rampant Real Madrid in the first half but the visitors failed to score in first 45 minutes. Real Madrid finally got a breakthrough in the 56th minute when Karim Benzema put them ahead. Cristiano Ronaldo doubled the lead of Real Madrid in the 73rd minute by scoring through a header from an inch perfect cross from Isco. It was a 290th goal for Ronaldo and he is now on a jointly third position in all time highest scorers list of Real Madrid.
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said after the game that he is very pleased with the efforts of his players.
“It was an important game because of what happened to Bar a; we had the chance to open up a good lead, and we did it very well, with a lot of concentration both in attack and defence, real quality football. We played very, very well, and with this attitude we’ll win lots of games. The team understood perfectly that it was a very important match. We are getting better bit by bit, our fitness levels are improving and we have to keep going”, Ancelotti said.
Real Madrid seems to have recovered well from their damaging defeat against Atletico, and Ancelotti also said that the bad days are over for his players.
“Since the Atl tico game, when we let in four goals, there have been three more games and we haven’t conceded any. The team has started to defend well, all working together, and we haven’t let slip or missed out on any chances, and that is where we have improved the most”.
Isco played extremely well for all 90 minutes against Elche and Ancelotti praised the efforts of the youngster in his press conference.
“Isco had a great game, a lot of depth and quality there. As for whether he will be an automatic starter once we’ve got everybody fit again, well I’ll decide that when the time comes”.