Real Madrid defender, Pepe, is adamant that his side were the better team on Saturday in the Madrid derby.

Manuel Pellegrini's men had to endure a torrid final ten minutes in the 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid with Sergio Ramos sent off after a bad foul.

Atletico almost took a point off their neighbours with late goals from Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan.

Pepe feels that despite Atletico's late comeback, his team played better throughout the 90 minutes.

Speaking to the club's official website, the Portuguese defender said:"Atletico Madrid should be praised for their performance in the second half, but we played a great game and deserved to win,

"Aguero was in good form and I had to mark him. He is a very strong player," he continued.

"The important thing is that we won and we must now look ahead."

After a fortnight of unpleasant results for the Los Merengues, they have now managed to haul themselves back into the title race as they seek to wrestle the La Liga title away from Pep Guardiola's Barcelona side.