Speaking after beating Cacereno, Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti said: “We played a kind of match we’re not used to.”

Madrid won the Copa del Rey clash 1-0, but the game looked far from impressive to the eye.

Ancelotti admitted that the quality of football on display against the third tier side was poor due to the poor nature of the pitch.

The Real Madrid manager said: “I never felt in danger in the tie. Individual quality came up against a pitch where we couldn’t pass the ball crisply.

“That’s why we opted for more long balls and we were able to adapt. I like what I saw all round, from start to finish. We knew we’d be up against it in this kind of atmosphere.

“We didn’t take any risks at the back and we’ve kept a clean sheet for the second game in a row.”

Speaking further, Ancelotti said: “You can’t play football like this. For me, this isn’t football. It’s another nice sport because smaller teams go up against bigger ones. It’s good for the fans, but they also want to watch good football.”

“They played really well, closed us down and pressed high up the pitch. We didn’t keep hold of the ball enough and we didn’t perform how we normally do, but we were competitive.”