Post-match comments

Juande Ramos analysed the derby for the press. Gonzalo Higuain and Arjen Robben shared their views on the derby when the match was over. Fabio Cannavaro believes Atletico missed too many of their chances. The defender stressed that the team must now focus on Liverpool. Sergio Ramos said the derby was “very open” and that the team must now concentrate on winning in Anfield.

Juande Ramos:

We needed a victory in order for our streak to continue. We faced a complicated opponent and the game was always open; both teams could have won. We could have taken the lead early on. Robben, Marcelo and others had chances on goal and the game would have been very different if they had scored. Atletico could have won the game with their counterattacks.

Atletico always play like this because they have fast and dangerous men in attack. The necessity to win a game forces you to attack. Tonight reminded me of a King’s Cup game; victory is all that counts in that championship.

I took Raul off because I wanted to freshen up our attack with Van der Vaart’s brilliant set piece skills. We had chances to win the game. Guti hasn’t played 90 straight minutes in a long time. He isn’t as fit as the rest and I decided to substitute him. I wanted the team to have more physical drive.

We were able to reduce the distance with Barcelona in eight points in just a couple of weeks, so I believe we can do the same now that the distance between us is six points. The difference is just two games. There are 12 matches left in La Liga, but we must now concentrate on our Anfield game. It will be a tough and thrilling encounter and my men are anxious to make the fans happy.

Gonzalo Higuain:

There are many of us on the squad and it doesn’t matter to be benched sometimes. We are a team. We drew a match in which victory was important for us, but there are many games left. We are Real Madrid and we are not going to stop fighting for the title.

We are very excited about playing in Anfield. We want to reach the next round. I’m sure the atmosphere there will be amazing.

Arjen Robben:

The game was open and both sides had chances to score. We wanted another victory, but we shouldn’t worry too much about it. We have to keep on fighting and working hard, and we must now concentrate on Tuesday’s game.

The match in Liverpool is very important for Real Madrid. We will have to make work hard again. All of the games left in the season will be like finals to us.

Fabio Cannavaro:

I think we just took a point tonight because we didnt’ play well. Atletico were well positioned and scored in a counterattack. They counterattacked many times in the second half. We wanted to make a comeback and win, but I think Atletico missed many of their chances.

A team doesn’t work well when it isn’t well balanced on the pitch and things like this may happen. We have to play like we used to soon because we can’t fail on Tuesday. We must play like a team again and forget about this match as soon as possible. We must now talk about Liverpool.

We didn’t play well tonight, but this sometimes happens after ten consecutive victories and right before an important game like the one we’ll play on Tuesday.

You must always be optimistic, especially in football. Anything can happen.

Sergio Ramos:

Atletico had good chances on goal, but so did we.They didn’t use theirs well. I think there could have been more goals in the game.

We are still alive in both La Liga and the Champions League, and we want to stay that way. We will work along the same lines and learn from our mistakes, always keeping an eye on both competitions.

There was maybe more distance between our lines tonight. We didn’t perform too well in certain situations and they are very dangerous when they counterattack. We failed, but we have to improve and play closer together.

We always do our best on the pitch, but we don’t always achieve what we want. We were anxious to play the derby and we are very excited about the match in Anfield. We must now think about how to make a comeback in the knock-out stage.