(MENAFN- Arab Times) Madrid april 3 (afp): real madrid coach carlo ancelotti insisted he was not concerned by an injury that forced cristiano ronaldo to be withdrawn 10 minutes from time as his side edged towards the champions league semi-finals with a 3-0 win over borussia dortmund on wednesday.
the portuguese scored a record-equalling 14th champions league goal of the season to all but seal real's place in the last four after first-half strikes from gareth bale and isco had put los blancos in command.
however uncharacteristically ronaldo didn't finish the 90 minutes as he was forced off by a minor knee injury that has bothered him for the last couple of weeks.
'we will wait and see what the problem is but at the moment we are not worried. we are not thinking about giving him a rest' said italian ancelotti suggesting ronaldo will start saturday's crucial la liga visit to real sociedad.
ancelotti insisted that his side still have work to do next week at the westfalenstadion to progress to the last four but was enthused by the balance his side showed between defence and attack.
'we know dortmund will do everything to come back that is normal.
'we need to be careful and play our own game. if we play in the same way we did tonight then we will reach the semi-finals.
'in the first-half we pressured well high up the field and were efficient in front of goal.
'due to the intensity of our play in the first-half we took a step back in the second but that allowed us to play more on the counter-attack and find space.'
coach jurgen klopp has balked at a reporter's suggestion borussia dortmund have little chance in tuesday's champions league's quarter-final second leg after their 3-0 first-leg defeat at real madrid.
dortmund face a near-impossible task at their westfalenstadion in tuesday's return after gareth bale isco and cristiano ronaldo who equalled lionel messi's record of 14 goals in a champions league season scored real's goals at the bernabau.
dortmund romped to a 4-1 win at home to real in last season's semi-finals first-leg en route to the final and klopp brushed off any suggestion his side are effectively out with real on the verge of a fourth consecutive european semi-final.
'how could anyone transfer money to my account for my job if i now turn around and say we're out of this?' snapped back klopp after zdf presenter jochen breyer implied dortmund have no chance in the return.
having recently had a an on-air spat with zdf pundit and ex-germany captain oliver khan klopp was in no mood for weak questions.
'sorry but i don't want to go into the zdf studio and again clash with someone' said the dortmund boss.
'but for every stupid questions i can only give a stupid answer - as we all know.'
dortmund were without suspended poland striker robert lewandowski in madrid and even with their top-scorer back for the second leg klopp admitted borussia left themselves facing a huge task at home.
'we haven't earned a situation in which we can say we'll challenge but we will still play' said klopp.
dortmund goalkeeper roman weidenfeller said the germans did not have the right mind-set in madrid.
'we were dozy at the start and made it too easy for real' said the 33-year-old.
'we didn't go out there with enough confidence.'
defensive midfielder nuri sahin said dortmund must improve for the return.
'we weren't without our own chances but we have to play smarter' he said.
'we had ten chances on the counter-attack but didn't score. that's bitter.
'it will be difficult for us you have to be realistic.'
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