Ancelotti: "We showed all the quality we have"

Compared to the last two weeks in La Liga, this team clearly improved and Carlo Ancelotti knows there was a bit of a change:

I think we played with more intensity. We tried to be good on both phases of the game. We didn't succeed during the entire game, but our efficiency on the chances created might've killed the game.

What did the Italian thought was good about this game:

We showed all the quality we have in the attack. We have a phenom (Cristiano) and players with great skill that tried to play together and combine each other, and that's what I liked about this game.

On Isco, Illarramendi, James and Chicharito's performance:

I think our substitutions gave the team more intensity. Those players were rested and helped the team end the game sooner. When our first sub (Illarra) entered the game, the game wasn't over yet. Illarramendi gave the team more balance, while Chicharito offered more depth on the attack. Isco gave us more quality. James played well, just like he did against Basel, scoring a fantastic goal.

On replacing Benzema that soon after his great first half:

I took Karim out to bring on another midfielder to avoid any problems since it was the only moment in the game when we didn't have control.

Even with such a dominating performance, Ancelotti knows the team has to improve a lot more:

I think we have to improve. We showed the quality the whole world acknowledges, the ability to score in a number of different situations, but we still have to improve our continuity and our balance. However, after losing two games in a row, we scored 13 goals this week, which is an indication that we reacted well after those losses.

On the importance of getting closer to Barcelona in the standings:

We're not thinking about this yet. We're thinking only about our problems and how to fix them and we're doing that well. About narrowing the gap, with such a long season, it's just not a problem for the moment.

Finally, he shared some thoughts on the performance of Deportivo La Coruña:

I think until the first goal, it was a tight game. Deportivo was defending well until Cristiano's goal, which opened more spaces. That complicates things for our rivals because our attackers are so fast and it becomes a lot harder for the opponent to contain them.