‘Ronaldo unlucky against Liverpool’

Carlo Ancelotti feels Cristiano Ronaldo was unlucky not to equal Raul’s Champions League record after failing to score against Liverpool.

Ronaldo had scored in his last 23 starts for Los Merengues, dating back eight months, but Simon Mignolet and Kolo Toure denied his attempts tonight as the Ballon d’Or winner could not find a way past the Liverpool defence, with Karim Benzema scoring the only goal of the 1-0 win.

“Cristiano played well and he had good exchanges on the pitch,” Ancelotti said during his post-match Press conference.

“He didn’t score because he was unlucky and the goalkeeper made some good saves. I am sure that he’ll score in his next game.Sooner or later, Cristiano will beat that record, because that’s his future.

“I don’t think Cristiano was frustrated for not scoring. Actually I was frustrated when I was a player because I never scored!

“I think he was happy anyway for having won the game and I think that he’s already focused on his next match.”

Ancelotti is close to breaking a record himself - Miguel Muñoz and José Mourinho are the only Coaches to have won 15 consecutive matches with Real Madrid in the Champions League and, by beating Liverpool, the Italian Coach has achieved his 12th.

“I am not happy about this but rather about how the team plays, how they prepare the games and how motivated they are to do well.

“These kind of records are not really important. Obviously I’d like to achieve it, but to be honest I prefer to think about winning the three points every time.”

And happy he was indeed with his team’s performance against Liverpool, despite coming through the smallest margin.

“We controlled the game well and we didn’t need a higher pace. We tried to score the second goal and we had chances.”

Gareth Bale made his comeback after a month on the sidelines and Ancelotti was happy about the Welshman’s performance too.

“Bale played well, he played a good game. He is ready to play other games. He is one player more [we have at our disposal].

“I think it was right to play him for 30 minutes, and he felt well on the pitch. On Saturday he'll start against Rayo.”

Ancelotti also gave his thoughts on the remaining fixtures in Group B.

“I think that every team has quality but because of their experience, Liverpool should have the better chances to qualify.

“Obviously, they’ll have to win both games against Ludogorets and Basel and that won’t be easy, I am sure.”

Finally, a Norwegian journalist asked Ancelotti about the situation with Martin Odegaard.

The 15-year old wonder-kid was spotted in Madrid and media in Norway reported about ‘advanced talks’ between the parties.  

“I don’t speak about players who aren’t Madrid players. I don’t know him.”