Carlo Ancelotti plays down Karim Benzema injury fears

Carlo Ancelotti has provided an early injury update on Karim Benzema after he was substituted 30 minutes into Tuesday’s 3-0 win at Celtic.

Real Madrid kicked off their defence of the Champions League with a sizeable win, but there were concerns after star striker Benzema and defender Eder Militao had to be withdrawn with knocks.

Speaking post-match, Ancelotti alleviated fears that the problems were anything too detrimental.

“It seems not so serious, but we’ll have to wait until tomorrow. They are going to have a check, Benzema and Militao. It seems not so important,” Ancelotti told BT Sport.

Though Real ran out 3-0 winners, they had to weather the storm at Parkhead as Celtic put them under plenty of early pressure.

Liel Abada nearly gave the hosts the lead after 30 seconds while Callum McGregor struck the post, but Los Blancos kicked into gear in the second half, with goals from Vinicius Junior, Luka Modric and Eden Hazard securing victory.

“[It was like] two games. First half, in [the] balance, we suffered a little bit, the intensity. The second half, we had more control, we played really well, we were comfortable with the ball and on the counter attack,” Ancelotti said.

“We were not surprised. We knew they could start really fast with a lot of intensity. We were lucky because they hit the post, but after that I think with the ball we were good.

“Also in the first half, we didn’t play so fast in the final third. Second half, much better. We needed to improve speed in the final third and with combinations we scored three fantastic goals.”