Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster felt that his side did themselves proud after their triumph against Real Betis.

Gabriel Heinze opened Real's account in the 18^th minute but defender Marcelo's dismissal on the hour mark reduced both their numerical advantage and their lead.

Dutch forward Ruud van Nistelrooy bailed Los Merengues from a stalemate with their Andalusian rivals when he bundled home the winner in injury time.

Schuster heaped praise on his team for digging deep through adversity after their sending off.

 "I believe that in general, we were superior. In the first half, besides the goal, we had several opportunities. But towards the end, it became a very complicated game," he said during the post-match conference.

"I always had faith that we would be able to overcome any difficulty and win the game," Schuster added.

"The fundamental thing is that we have shown once again that when facing difficult moments, such as the penalty and the sending off, the team knew what to do.

"And when they went down a man too, we realized the game had swung our way and we attack their goal and scored, whereas they never came close to ours," he concluded.