Real Madrid president Florentino Perez backs Rafa Benitez after El Clasico loss and puts blame on Carlo Ancelotti

Benitez is under pressure following a 4-0 demolition at the hands of fierce rivals Barcelona

Rafa Benitez has the backing of the Real Madrid board... for now (Getty Images)

Rafael Benitez was given a predictable, albeit slightly bizarre vote of confidence last night by Real Madrid’s president, Florentino Perez, who appeared to pin the blame for Saturday’s El Clasico humiliation on former coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Perez described the 4-0 home defeat by Barcelona as a “horrible” performance and harking back to Ancelotti’s reign, added: “The team has undergone gradual deterioration since 1 January.”

However, as The Independent reported in the wake of the defeat, Benitez retains the support of the Real hierarchy, though that looks certain to change come the end of the season.

The Real president sacked Ancelotti last summer, much to the displeasure of many of the senior players in the squad. This has made things tough for Benitez since taking over in June but Perez said: “He has a good relationship with the players, the directors, and especially with me. It was a very bad performance, we all saw that but these things can happen. It was a horrible game but it was just one game.”

Perez also denied that Benitez was being told which line-up to pick. The former Liverpool manager surprised everyone on Saturday when he selected an attacking side full of the club’s biggest signings at the expense of players he has depended on so far this season.

Hard-working defenders Dani Carvajal and Nacho were left out to make way for £23m full-back Danilo and a not fully fit Sergio Ramos. In attack Benitez squeezed in all of Real’s expensively assembled forward players, leaving out defensive midfielder Casemiro.

Perez said: “He [Benitez] has full autonomy to do what he thinks right and what is best for the club. No coach here has ever said that he has team selections suggested to him.”

It was the reference to Ancelotti and the implication that the decline had begun on his watch that surprised most. Perez denied giving the Italian coach the same vote of confidence last season before sacking him in the summer.

“There was a front page saying that if Ancelotti loses he would be sacked and I came out to deny it,” Perez said. “This is different.” But he added: “What happens between now and six months no one can say.

The suggestion that Cristiano Ronaldo had come to him with the ultimatum, “It’s Benitez or me,” was also denied. Perez said: “Ronaldo has never said, ‘With this coach we will never win’.”

Ronaldo has now failed to score in 10 games this season and part of Benitez’s task going into away games against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League and Eibar in La Liga is to get the club’s all-time record scorer back in the goals.

Perez denied reports in the Spanish press at the weekend suggesting that he had dined with the president of Paris Saint-Germain, Nasser al-Khelaifi, and Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes, on the eve of El Clasico.

“If we let Benitez work I am sure we will win things,” Perez said. His defence of the 55-year-old coach is still not expected to go beyond the end of the season, with Zinedine Zidane lined-up as a possible replacement. When asked on Sunday about the chances of him taking over, the current B-team coach said it was not an option “for the moment”.