‘I don’t miss Mourinho’

Pepe took to the microphones of Cadena Cope radio programme 'El Partido de las 12' to defend Ancelotti following Real Madrid's debacle against Schalke 04 at the Bernabéu.

"It hurts to be whistled at by the Bernabéu faithful, but our fans have every right to whistle. We did not lack attitude against Schalke 04.

We ran a lot, but played individually and not as a team. We're eager to get back to our best because we're the same players we were two months ago, when everybody thought that Real Madrid were unbeatable.

Our winning streak made us over-confident and we took our eye off the ball during the Christmas break. I promise we're going to regain our form through hard work".

Ancelotti and Mourinho: "There's no doubt that Ancelotti has to stay. He's a great coach and has brought the club a lot of joy in a very short space of time. I don't miss Mourinho.

Ancelotti is in no way 'lenient'. He has an amazing track record and is extremely demanding. We work much harder under Ancelotti than we did under Mourinho. Thank God I've had a coach like Ancelotti. He's helped me very much".

Mou and hatred towards Real Madrid: "Whenever we play away in La Liga, we no longer feel as though people hate us as they did when Mourinho was in charge. Real Madrid are a huge club. We've cleaned up our image. Now Isco goes off to applause and that was unthinkable before.