Real Madrid coach content with performance in Mallorca

Madrid: Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho insisted his side had been forced to work hard despite the apparent ease of their 5-0 away win against Mallorca.

Braces of goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain as well as a late strike from Javier Callejon Sunday gave Madrid three points against a Mallorca side missing key players through injury and who gave away the first two goals as a result of defensive lapses, reports Xinhua. The result keeps Madrid fourth in the league table, eight points behind FC Barcelona and local rivals Atletico Madrid who also won at the weekend. "We are not playing in such a fantastic way as last season but we are playing well enough to start to feel more content about things," said Mourinho. "We are in a positive and dynamic mood. We managed to score from our first chance and that makes everything much more easy as sometimes you need three or four chances to score. In Mallorca we scored from our first and second chances." The Madrid coach made light of his side`s disadvantage in respect to Barcelona and Atletico, who have both taken 25 points from a possible 27 in the start to the campaign. "For much of last season we had a 10 point lead and we always got the feeling that the league was open. It is not March, it is October and we are not eight points behind, we are only eight points behind," Mourinho said. "What we have to do is not look at our direct rivals and there are two of them, because Atletico also have a lead over us. We have to carry on doing what we are doing." The Madrid coach also lamented the fact that midfielder Xabi Alonso will be suspended next weekend after seeing his fifth booking of the season and defended Michael Essien, who continued playing at left back, despite it not being his natural position on the pitch. "Essien plays where I want him to play, and he is willing to play where I ask him to, so he deserves all of the credit I give him and more," he concluded. IANS