Real Madrid coach Pellegrini upbeat after derby win

Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini was in upbeat mood after his side's 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid on Saturday night.

Real Madrid led 3-0 through goals from Kaka, Marcelo and Gonzalo Higuain, but let Atletico back into it.

The home side scored two goals in a minute thanks to Diego Forlan and Kun Aguero with just 12 minutes remaining and had it not been for the heroics of Real keeper Iker Casillas, would have sneaked a share of the points.

However, speaking in Sunday's edition of sports paper Diario AS, Pellegrini defended his record as Real Madrid coach.

"We played well in the first half and Atletico didn't trouble us at all in that time. We scored two goals and had chances to score more," he said.

"In the second half we controlled the game quite well until Sergio Ramos was sent off. That means we stated to look at the score more closely, Atletico scored twice and found themselves in a position they didn't deserve to be in," he added.

Pellegrini insisted that Real was playing the football that he wanted to see from his players.

"The team is assimilating a new way of playing and we are achieving that bit by bit. I didn't expect us to have so many points at this stage of the season, because to get 25 from a possible 30 is massive," he said.

Source: Xinhua