‘Madrid a family & Ancelotti the father’

Pepe has described Real Madrid as like a family and Carlo Ancelotti the father after the Champions League win over Schalke.

The Portugal international defender returned from injury in the win at Gelsenkirchen and after the players celebrated the second goal of the game, scored by Marcelo, with the Coach, he discussed the mood at Santiago Bernabeu and Cristiano Ronaldo.

“We know the run hasn’t been good but it’s normal. We have quality players and we’re well-served with the players we have,” he said, according to AS.

“We didn’t start the year well but we talked and tried to fix what was wrong.

“Cristiano is fine, smiling, as we want our teammate. We want to transmit happiness in the locker room. We’re like a family, and Ancelotti is the father.

“I never saw Cristiano sad. It’s normal that when Cristiano scores 60 goals a season and takes three or four weeks without scoring that people speculate that he’s not right, but he sticks with the job he’s always done to help his teammates.

“He scored the goal today but he always works to score.”

Pepe also discussed Lucas Silva, the Brazilian midfielder who made his first start for Madrid after his January move from Cruzeiro, and the state of the tie as a whole.

“Lucas has done very well and surprised me a lot. He has quality and will help us,” Pepe said of the newcomer.

“We have to go easy on him. We’ll talk to him tomorrow. We have to.

“There are 90 minutes to play in our stadium. We are happy with this result and we hope to win the Champions League again.”

Tags Carlo Ancelotti Pepe Schalke
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