Carlo Ancelotti plays down Karim Benzema injury concerns

Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has insisted that Karim Benzema was not injured in the latter stages of Tuesday's Champions League contest with Paris Saint-Germain.

Benzema was a huge doubt for the last-16 first leg due to a hamstring problem, but he was named in the starting XI and played 87 minutes of his side's 1-0 defeat in Paris.

Gareth Bale was introduced for the France international in the final stages of the game, and there had been claims that the centre-forward had suffered another issue.

However, Ancelotti has said that the decision to substitute the 34-year-old "wasn't physical", with the Italian instead looking for a different approach in the final stages of the match.

"Benzema's problem wasn't physical. I took him out of the game right before the end, the problem is that he didn't get the chances we wanted. We had a hard time creating chances and we normally don't have as many problems when we get high pressure," Ancelotti told reporters.

Real Madrid now have three league matches against Alaves, Rayo Vallecano and Real Sociedad before the second leg of their Champions League contest with PSG at Bernabeu on March 9.