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Benitez happy with response to Barcelona thrashing

Rafael Benitez was pleased with the performance of his players despite Shakhtar Donetsk almost pegging back Real Madrid's 4-0 lead in Wednesday's Champions League clash.

Two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and one each for Luka Modric and Dani Carvajal put the 2014 European champions in command in Lviv before a late fightback from the home side almost robbed them of three points.

"After the game against Barca, to react like that and go 4-0 up, is positive," he said afterwards. "There are two mistakes, one in concentration and another, which I'm not sure was a penalty.

"With 4-0 you can think the game is done. I'm more satisfied with the first 78 minutes. We played a great game until we made the mistakes for the penalty and the corner [for Dentinho's goal]. That changed everything, they took our confidence.

"They are mistakes and that's that. I want to stick with the positive and we'll analyse the mistakes. It was a great effort by all the players."

"I don't like to individualise," he added. "There are players who we speak about less but who are essential because they bring balance and give meaning to the play. I want to emphasise everyone, everybody contributed. We have to maintain that level."