adminMADRID. — Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti admitted that Atletico Madrid were deserving victors after they handed him his first defeat in charge of Los Blancos with a 1-0 success at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday night.And despite Diego Simeone’s men sitting back and defending their lead, Ancelotti accepted they still had the better chances to score a second on the counter-attack.
“Atletico Madrid deserved to win. They were very defensive but they scored a goal on the counter-attack,” he told a press conference.
“They showed they are a very organised team with a lot of quality.”
It was the fourth time in seven league games that Real had fallen behind early on in the game and Ancelotti is determined that they have to start games better and inject more speed into their play.
“I think we had the same problem as in the other games. Our build-up play is slow and when the ball arrives further up the pitch there are no spaces to look for a positive solution.
“When you play against a team with good defensive organisation it is more difficult and the goal made things even harder for us. We started very well in pre-season but over the past week we have had two very bad games. We need to have better attitude and concentration.
“It is not an easy moment because losing at home is never good, but it is obvious that we need to play more quickly and fix the problem.”
Victory for Atletico sealed their best ever start to a league campaign with seven consecutive victories.
Los Rojiblancos are currently tied at the top of the table with Barcelona on 21 points, five clear of their city rivals in third. However, Atletico boss Diego Simeone still believes that Real and Barcelona’s strength in depth throughout the course of the season will prove too much for Atleti to compete with.
“In the long-term throughout 38 games, the financial power and individual quality that Barcelona and Real Madrid have is superior to us.
“We have our own strengths and we try to give everything we have in every match.
“We are working well and at the moment we are being rewarded for that work as a team.”
Meanwhile, Gareth Bale’s long-awaited Real Madrid home debut ended in disappointment as Atletico Madrid beat Los Blancos 1-0 to register their first league victory over Real for 14 years on Saturday.
Bale started on the bench and had to watch on as Koke played in Diego Costa to slot Atletico into an 11th minute lead. The Welshman was then called upon by Ancelotti at half-time to turn things in Real’s favour, but he wasn’t able to impact the game greatly as Atletico maintained their 100 percent start to the campaign.
However, Koke insists Atletico are not yet thinking about the title.
“We are very happy with the result today but also with the effort of the whole team,” he said.
“We are having a great year and we need to continue like this.”
Madrid captain Sergio Ramos admitted his side need to reflect after a first defeat of the season, which leaves them five points off the leaders.
“When things don’t go well, you need to reflect,” he said.
“They have won the derby because we lacked the efficiency we have had in recent years. ”
After a cagey opening 10 minutes, the Madrid derby burst into life when Koke played Costa in behind the home defence and the Brazilian slotted home his eighth goal in seven league games.
Even the goal though couldn’t shake Real out of their early malaise and it took until the 20th minute for Thibaut Courtois to be forced into a save as he palmed Karim Benzema’s flicked header behind. — AFP.
Online Reporter