Real Madrid players were more than a little relieved following their incident-packed derby victory over Atletico Madrid.

Real emerged 3-2 victors in a match that saw them cruise to a 3-0 lead before having Sergio Ramos sent off in the second half and then nearly capitulating to their city rivals.

Speaking to AS after the game, goal-scorer Gonzalo Higuain commented "The important thing is that we won three points.

"We played well, extended our run in the Calderon, and continued to improve. We suffered a lot in the end, because of the sending off.

"Aguero and Simao could have equalized at the end, but luckily they did not."

Meanwhile, near villain of the piece Ramos said "We are proud of our performance.

"We pressured well, and are happy. We had to suffer, but we obtained our objective of three points.

"We continued our run at the Calderon. Scoring first helped calm us down.

"We need to maintain this form, and think about the game against Alcorcon."

The win lifted Real six points clear of Sevilla in second place - just one point behind leaders Barcelona who beat mallorca 4-2 at the Camp Nou last night.