Real Madrid secured a comprehensive 4-0 victory against Sevilla at home, in a performance which pleased manager Zinedine Zidane. Although Ronaldo missed a penalty, he got on to the scoresheet with Bale, Benzema and Jese also scoring last night.
Madrid's first game after the international break is against La Liga leaders Barcelona at Camp Nou on April 2 and Zidane is full of confidence ahead of that showdown given the standard of their display on Sunday.
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"I'm very happy with the game. We've had one of the best weeks in terms of training. This is the fruit of the players' labour. We played one of the best games since I've been here," he said.
"Every game is different, I'm counting on every player until the end. Everyone is important.
"We can do great things playing like this and the players know that, but in football every game is different.
"Clasicos are always special. We have to keep improving and it was important to head into it with a victory. We're ready, it'll be a great game."
Zidane – Benzema and Navas were brilliant
Zidane also reserved special praise for striker Karim Benzema and goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
Benzema scored just six minutes into his return from injury and Navas pulled off a stunning save to prevent Kevin Gameiro scoring from a penalty.
"Benzema played very well. He helped us a lot with a magnificent goal. I'm very pleased with his performance," Zidane said.
"We need Keylor and it's important to have a goalkeeper like him."
Although Barcelona could only manage a 2-2 draw with Villareal, Zidane said that his primary aim was to move above Atletico Madrid into second place.
"The objective is to move above Atletico," he said. "Now we're a lot closer. We have to have consistency in what we do. The attitude is fantastic, but sometimes we're missing consistency across the whole game, although that's part of football."
With eight games left, Real Madrid are 10 points behind leaders Barcelona and just one point behind rivals Atletico Madrid
