The Spanish champions, who had already qualified to the knockout stage, gave Ramos a winning start after crushing Zenit 3-0 at Santiago Bernabeu.

"It is very positive to earn a victory in a match in which the points at stake aren't important. We had already qualified to play in the next round, so we had to win," he told the post-match press conference.

"I am very pleased with my men's performance. This victory will help boost the team's morale. Every player did his best to make a new impression."

Real suffered a dip in form recently that saw them trail leaders Barcelona by nine points in the Primera Liga. German coach Bernd Schuster was consequently sacked.

"Every game is different to the rest and we prepared for this one by trying to do things we talked about beforehand," Ramos said.

"We are happy with what we did tonight; we shouldn't compare this match with previous clashes. Today's result is all that matters."