Pepe: More to come from Real

Pepe says there is room for improvement at Real Madrid following their 5-2 win over Mallorca in La Liga on Saturday.

Real twice came from behind to seal the victory, with Gonzalo Higuain scoring twice and Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema all contributing to a second-half recovery.

However, though the Portuguese defender was pleased with the way the team reacted to going into half-time 2-1 down, he indicated there were certainly areas where work was required.

“We are trying to improve in that regard,” Pepe told the Real website, when asked about defending set-pieces.

“In the talk at the hotel (head coach Jose) Mourinho told us about how Mallorca played, their tactics and that it was going to be hard from set-plays.

“We have to assess the work of the team and we appreciate that we have won. In the second half we tackled better, we created chances and we were more accurate.

“We suffer from set plays and we need to be more focused. The most important thing is that we have reacted and won the game.”

Mourinho opted for an unorthodox line-up for the game against Mallorca, with Pepe starting as a defensive midfielder, a role the former Porto man said he had no concerns about.

“The coach put me in midfield and I’m here to help the team,” he said.

“Mourinho had an idea but the most important thing is that the player does his job well. Putting on his shirt fills me with pride. We are all available for the coach and when we play we do so are best as we possibly can.”

Real Madrid sit second in La Liga, with 61 points from 28 games, moving four ahead of Atletico Madrid after the win.