RM: Post-Málaga Comments (1.3.12)

Mourinho: 

on the poor first half - “I told the players at halftime that if I could’ve made 11 substitutions, I would have. I only had three, but I would have replaced the 11. I had intended making substitutions to make something happen with the team. I thought about doing it before the half, but I don’t like doing that. The three that I took off didn’t play worse than the rest. I didn’t want to point fingers at anyone.” [x]

on the comeback - “Our performance in the first half was not good. We lacked concentration & made big mistakes in set pieces, but my team cleaned its own trash thanks to the support of the crowd. It isn’t easy to find such support when you’re losing. We came back thanks to the bond between team & audience, & we’ll have the advantage in Málaga.” 

Casillas: “I don’t know. It was a set of circumstances coming together all at once—Christmas break, being apart from one another. Now we have to begin again, & at times it’s better start again in this way. After a little shock, this will wake us up a bit & remind us that we must be alert in every single game & every competition.” [videos - English /  Spanish] 

Higuaín: “It was a complicated game against a difficult opponent. We didn’t do well in the first half, but we proved we wanted to win the game despite conceding two goals. We’ll have a victory advantage in Malaga, which is a very important thing to have in a two leg knock-out stage.” [video - Spanish]

Albiol: “The first games in every year are always dangerous, & it is hard to adapt after the Christmas break. We were losing 2-0 at home, but we reacted, played well & fixed things in the second half. We ended up winning 3-2, proving we know how to react. The crowd also gave us all its support.” [video - Spanish] 

Benzema: “The first half was difficult, but we won the game. I celebrated my goal with Higuaín because we’re both strikers and feel the same way about it. What characterizes this team is its fighting spirit and that’s why we gave our all in the second half. We fought hard.” [video- Spanish]

Men of the Match: Karim Benzema & Gonzalo Higuaín

In Case You Missed It / Photo gallery / video highlights

Of note. 

• In just under 10 minutes, Real Madrid were able to score three unanswered goals in a brilliant Cup comeback.
• Benzema’s game winner was his 49th official goal for Real Madrid, on par with Zizou as the club’s best-scoring Frenchman. [x]
• Real Madrid return to work in a closed session at 11 o’clock Thursday morning. [x]
• Tuesday’s victory against Málaga was just the first of six matches this month—the first of four in 11 days.
• Upcoming matches: 
• Cautions: Pepe will sit out of Saturday’s match against Granada after having picked up two yellows in the previous league match versus Sevilla. Both Ramos & Lass are in danger of suspension, as they each sit on four yellows.