Thursday 23 April 2015 06:53, UK
Carlo Ancelotti praised Real Madrid's match-winner Javier Hernandez after admitting the Mexican has not had many chances this season at the Bernabeu.
Hernandez, on loan from Manchester United, scored the only goal to give Real a 1-0 aggregate win over Atletico Madrid to reach the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday night.
It was Hernandez's sixth strike for the club, and Real boss Ancelotti was delighted for the 26-year-old for taking his chance under pressure.
Ancelotti told Sky Sports: “He was a fantastic solution because he played really well with a lot of intensity.
"He deserved it because he hasn’t played a lot this season but when I told him to play he was ready.
"He was professional and I’m happy for him.”
Real are on course to become the first team to defend a Champions League title, but Ancelotti insists the feat will not be easy, with Juventus, Bayern Munich or Barcelona waiting in the semi-finals.
“We’ll try. It won’t be easy but anything can happen. We are competitive and we’ll try to do our best.
“We had the passion to find the solution in the last minutes but this was our idea going into this game.
"We had good control of the game from the beginning, good possession and we didn’t give them the opportunity to play counter attack."
Hernandez hailed the goal as the most important of his career, particularly as Real had struggled against Atletico since winning the Champions League last season.
He said: "Obviously it is my most important goal because the present is what is important.
"It is a derby which hasn't brought good memories since winning the 10th European Cup. I was the one who scored, but it belongs to everyone. The people who believed in me, my team-mates and my family."
