Raúl relishing Madrid resolve

Raúl González believes Real Madrid CF are becoming a "tough" side to beat after the forward inspired Los Merengues to a derby victory against city rivals Club Atlético de Madrid.

Early effort
A goal from captain Raúl after 30 seconds, added to by Ruud van Nistelrooy's effort three minutes before the break, secured the Primera División points at the Vicente Calderón and prolonged Atlético's derby misery. Victory for Bernd Schuster's side preserved their seven-point advantage over FC Barcelona at the top of the table, while for Atlético the wait for their first derby success since 1999 will continue.

'Competitive'
"Partly my goal was due to Robinho but it brought us the calmness we needed and when it looked like they could equalise, Van Nistelrooy scored," said Raúl, who took his tally in the fixture to eleven goals. "We are now a competitive team and a tough one to beat. We were deserved winners."

Clean sheets
Iker Casillas also had cause for celebration as he has now kept six successive clean sheets, setting a personal record of 559 Primera División minutes without conceding. "I'm only doing my job but I have to say defensively we're working perfectly," said the 26-year-old. "We have another important match next week against Villarreal [CF] but it's vital to carry on winning and have other teams worried because we rarely slip up."

'Hard blow'
Just when Atlético looked like they had recovered from Raúl's early setback, they received a further blow when Simão was substituted due to a thigh injury. Javier Aguirre's side also hit the woodwork twice before Van Nistelrooy struck, dashing the coach's hopes of a comeback. "Both goals were disappointing," he said. "The first goal did away with the week's work we had put in, and the second one came from a corner. Both hit hard on the team's spirit. It's a hard blow for us but we're still in three competitions."

'Deserved more'
Atlético's Uruguayan striker Diego Forlán added: "We deserved a bit more because we did hit the woodwork twice but when you concede a goal only 30 seconds into a game, that's quite upsetting. We're annoyed at the match but we have to carry on. We have an important cup match on Wednesday and we're still fourth in the league."