Carlo Ancelotti credited Karim Benzema with a pivotal role in Real Madrid’s win over Villarreal even though the striker failed to score.
Benzema has been criticised for a lack of goals in recent weeks but Ancelotti defended the France international before the game and echoed his comments when speaking to reporters following the final whistle.
“The key to the game was the second goal and Karim had an important evening, creating the goal for Cristiano,” AS reports the Italian saying.
“His work had a lot of merit even if he didn’t score. Sometimes it's better to pass.”
Ancelotti was happy in general with the performance and the result, praising Iker Casillas, who returned to the starting XI after missing the midweek win over Elche.
“It’s great that we won a difficult game against a team that played well, but we controlled the game,” Ancelotti continued.
“We suffered when we had to suffer and played when we had to play. The performance was good. We had a good attitude and deserved to win.
“Casillas had a very good game, like everyone else. We kept a clean sheet for the second time in the League and that’s good.”
