Mourinho keen to wrap up top spot early

Jose Mourinho could not hide his delight at Real Madrid’s 2-0 Champions League Group G home win over AC Milan at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday and now wants his side to win the group and, in theory, ensure a kind draw for the knockout phase.

Spanish league leaders Real made it a perfect three wins as two goals in as many minutes from Cristiano Ronaldo (13 min) and Mesut Ozil (14) clinched victory over Milan and the nine-time European champions are five points ahead of Milan and Ajax in Group G with three games to play.

“We have nine points but we want to be first in the group so we have to try and win the next games,” said Mourinho. “We have the next two games away from home before finishing off at home to Auxerre.

“If we can guarantee top spot before that final game against Auxerre it would be ideal, however, we can qualify with ten points if we don’t lose at Milan.”

Real’s next two fixtures are away from home at Milan on November 11 and then against Dutch side Ajax before finishing off with a home match against Auxerre.

“It was a fantastic performance and I can only say congratulations to my players and hope the Real fans are happy with what they saw. After the Malaga game a few days ago the level of concentration here against Milan was really impressive.”

Mourinho had faced Milan many times during his time with city rivals Inter Milan and said his team had been well equipped for the challenge.

“We knew how Milan were going to play,” explained Mourinho. “I know them well and we were prepared to take them on. However, I don’t care about what they did, what concerns me is the work and concentration levels my team showed.”

Ronaldo had an immense game capped by his first Champions League goal – his fifth goal in his last three matches – and said Milan were lucky to escape with a 2-0 defeat.

“We knew they couldn’t handle us if we kept up a fierce tempo and that is what happened,” said Ronaldo. “We have made it nine points which is what we wanted to do and now we are 75 percent qualified.

“When we play against strong teams we are more concentrated. We had a great first half with a lot of one-two passes and only bad luck prevented us from scoring more.”

Real had scored ten games in their last two league matches coming into the game and as well as being potent going forward Mourinho’s side are solid defensively and have yet to concede in this season’s Champions League.

Ronaldo was hacked down by former Barcelona player Ronaldinho in the second half which saw him writhe on the ground in agony, however, the world’s most expensive player said there was no harm done, declaring: “My foot is a bit inflamed but it is fine.”

Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri, who had a few run-ins with Mourinho when he was Inter Milan boss, admitted his side were second best.

“It was a really poor game from us and I expect the next one (in Milan) to be better,” said Allegri. “We put out a team to attack but you have to do more than we did to hurt Real Madrid.

“We had goalscoring chances but the first quarter hour was crucial. They scored two goals and we didn’t know what to do.”