"Without Bellingham we have won four games out of four"

Madrid are ready to face the first round of 16 tie against RB Leipzig. Germany will test the strength of the La Liga leaders and Ancelotti knows full well that his team will have to play a complete game to get anything positive out of the game.

"We're taking the return leg of the Champions League well despite the problems we've had. It's a competition that we like a lot. We are playing against a strong, quality opponent, a team that plays intense football. We have to play a complete game in every sense of the word," the Italian began.

Regarding Madrid's huge run of form, who have only lost two games after six months of competition, the Italian manager was full of praise for his squad: "I see a solid, serious team, there is a good atmosphere, no complaints. At the moment, everything is going well despite what we've been through".

On the other hand, Ancelotti highlighted Vinicius' great performance against Girona and is confident that he will have that consistency: "He has a lot of quality and puts a lot of intensity into his dribbles and sprints.... If he does it consistently for 90 minutes, it can be noticed because there are opponents who can't cope with him in the second half".

The name of Kroos also came up and the Italian praised his player to the skies, who still doesn't know what he is going to do with his future. "It's difficult to say it's the best season, because it's always the best. Kroos harnesses the energy of the youngsters. His passing percentage is the same as it was 10 years ago," he commented.

Much credit to Madrid, who are without Courtois, Alaba, Militao, Rudiger and Bellingham: "If you tell me that in August I'm going to play with so many injured players, I would have thought we had got through the group