Press Room: Cristiano Ronaldo is BACK, insists Carlo Ancelotti

Carlo Ancelotti says that ‘Cristiano Ronaldo is back’ after he headed Real Madrid in front against Schalke on Wednesday evening in the Champions League.

The Portuguese international has been under heavy criticism in recent weeks after missing two games for a suspension and having not scored since January 18th.

However, a typically brilliant header in the first half of Madrid’s last-16 first leg with Roberto Di Matteo’s side saw him bounce back in style and boss Carlo Ancelotti has further praised the 2014 Ballon d’Or winner.

“Ronaldo is back,” Ancelotti told Canal Plus. “He scored, he made an assist – he did well.”

The Italian boss was satisfied with his team’s performance and praised his players for scoring a second away goal.

“I’m happy,” Ancelotti continued. “It’s never easy coming into such a game after our period in La Liga but the players showed good attitude and put in a good performance. It went well.

“The game did not allow brilliance, with Schalke trying to hit us on the counterattack. After we went 1-0 up we controlled the game. We tried to score the second and thankfully we did.”