Carlo Ancelotti was clear on the decisive factor as Real Madrid sealed a 2-1 La Liga win at Celta Vigo.

Los Blancos move level on points with league leaders Barcelona overnight with the Catalans in action tomorrow.

As the campaign restarted, following the October international break, Ancelotti’s charges were forced to dig deep in Galicia, to return home with three points.

Superb goals either side of the break from Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior secured victory for Ancelotti ahead of a crunch run of games.

The Italian appeared irked at certain points during the second period in Vigo but he insisted the quality in his team will always give them hope of victory.

“When they equalised, I think the changes I made gave the team new energy. It’s a very important victory”, he said at full time.

“We scored two spectacular goals, we have that quality. The team trained well in the break, to improve their conditions, now we have to keep going.”

Up next for Ancelotti’s team is a UEFA Champions League home clash with Borussia Dortmund on October 22 before hosting rivals Barcelona in the first El Clasico of 2024/25 in Madrid four days later.

Luka Modric is no longer as prominent as he once was at Real Madrid, but he remains an important player for Carlo Ancelotti. He’s started three of the last five matches, and provided an assist in the most recent fixture against Villarreal. Despite this, he’s not expected to start at Celta Vigo on Saturday night.

However, it’s almost certain that Modric will appear at some stage, and when he does, he will make Real Madrid history. As per Cadena SER, he will surpass Ferenc Puskas (39y 36d) as the oldest player to make an appearance in the club’s history.

Saturday is the first opportunity for Modric (39y 40d) to break the record, but even if he does not feature at Balaidos, he will inevitably feature at some stage between now and the end of the season.

Another record that Modric will have in his sights is Real Madrid’s oldest goalscorer – that is also held by Puskas (39y 15d). Given that he still plays at a very high level, it’s expected that this could also fall before his time at the Santiago Bernabeu comes to an end.