No coach in the world is perfect. Real Madrid have never had a perfect coach, and they probably never will. If they did, there wouldn't be another for 20 years.
Just like players, part of the job for coaches is to learn and improve. Even though Carlo Ancelotti is in the twilight years of his career as a football coach, some would say even now he is learning.
People would call it learning and improving, while others would say he is finally doing the things that fans have been calling for, for a while.
Real Madrid's injury crisis in defense has been well-documented. One of the doubts going into the game was whether Ancelotti would keep trusting his old guard, or that he would bench him for someone who is clearly better.
We have seen this problem before with Ancelotti. He has had problems benching the players he has built a level of trust with, and it has been a regular theme with players like Aurelien Tchouameni and Raul Asencio this season.
The player in this scenario is Lucas Vazquez, who has started in most matches as a right-back this season.
Fede Valverde - who faced a race against time to remain fit for the first leg of the round of 16 tie - has had multiple performances at right-back which were much better than what Vazquez has had to offer.
On previous occasions for different sets of players, Ancelotti has chosen to stick with the ones he trusts, but he changed his ways this time around.
"Vazquez will play if Fede Valverde is unavailable," said Ancelotti before the game, which just showed that he can move past his old guard to give players the chance based on merit.
Don't get me wrong, Valverde is much higher on the pecking order than Vazquez, but there have been times where Vazquez has started as a right-back even when Real Madrid had enough coverage in midfield to sacrifice Valverde for a match or two.
Valverde being fit and playing at right-back the way he did against Atletico was definitely a good sign, and one that I hope continues. His versatility is too important not to be used when needed, and Ancelotti is finally seeing it.