Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti spoke to the media after the team’s relatively relaxed 3-0 win over Real Valladolid, thanks to a hat-trick from Kylian Mbappe. After the match, Ancelotti was asked about David Alaba’s appearance and how close he is to start, to which he said: “Little by little, Alaba is starting to play more minutes. He’s very close to his first start.”

Ancelotti on Raúl Asencio’s performance at right-back

“Raúl has done his job. He’s not used to playing there but he’s shown that he’s fast. He’s had a good game like Tchouaméni at centre-back. It’s nothing new.”

Ancelotti on Mbappé’s performance

“Mbappé is contributing a lot to the team, he has picked up rhythm in the last couple of months and obviously for us it is a plus, he is a player who has a lot of quality.”

Ancelotti on games against ‘weak’ teams

“The important thing is to get points, you have to fight for every match, compete in it. All teams try to win, you might think it was an easy match, but we thought about it later. The team managed the match well, we were in no hurry to force plays and when we opened the scoring the match was less complicated than usual.”

Ancelotti on whether the league is ‘over’

“We need to strike a bit of balance. We have done well in the League, we took advantage, but the League is too long to think it’s over. We have a small advantage and hopefully, we can take advantage of it in the next matches.

“We have found rhythm, a good dynamic.”