Real's James Rodriguez, Sergio Ramos are injury doubts vs. Atletico Madrid

First-half goals from James and Jese Rodriguez were enough in the end to secure the three points and stretch Madrid's lead in the Primera Division standings over second placed Barcelona to four points with all teams having now played the same number of games.

However injuries to James and Ramos make both players serious doubts for Saturday's trip to third-placed Atletico, while left-back Marcelo is also set to miss that fixture through suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season.

The Italian told his post-match news conference that above all he was happy his team had showed fighting qualities to hold out after Sevilla substitute Iago Aspas had made it 2-1 with 10 minutes still remaining.

"It was a difficult game, we played well, fighting, with character, and won in the end," Ancelotti said. "I liked the team for the whole game. Above all in second half, we had many good chances to kill all the game. It is normal to suffer at the end as Sevilla had bigger players than us, and had some corners. But we fought until the end and deserved to win. In the end all came out well, in this sense."

In another sense, however, it was a painful evening for Madrid, with the injuries to James and Ramos making it very unlikely either will be able to face Atletico on Saturday.

"I believe they are both out," Ancelotti said. "Sergio had a hamstring problem. We cannot evaluate it yet, we must wait some days. James had a problem with his right foot, I do not know exactly what it is, but for sure he will not be available."

With Pepe also currently sidelined with a rib injury, Madrid will have to face Diego Simeone's extra-physical side with youngsters Raphael Varane and Nacho Fernandez at centre-back, however Ancelotti said he was not worried.

"It is clear we are going to lose very important players, but I am not sad," he said. "The partnership of Varane and Nacho did very well. What we lose above all is experience. But sometimes enthusiasm is a good thing. I have a lot of confidence in both of them. Ramos and Pepe are among the best defenders in the world, but I am not worried."

Ancelotti said Madrid would look to have Marcelo's booking overturned, and that reserve left-back Fabio Coentrao should also be available after his latest injury absence.

"Of course we will appeal Marcelo's yellow card, it was not even a foul," he said. "Coentrao will be available, as he trained this morning, so I believe he can play on Saturday."

Should Madrid win at the Calderon they will stretch their lead over their neighbours to ten points, however Ancelotti said the main motivation for his side was ending a run of five "derbis" so far this season without a Real win.

"It is important, above all, the last games against Atletico have not been so good," he said. "So we will try and change the bad run we have had. We will do the maximum to win. It will be difficult, but we are confident we can do something different. We are not thinking about putting them at 10 points, the motivation is there as it is a Madrid derby."

Ancelotti agreed with a reporter's suggestion that the return to the team of Cristiano Ronaldo, who has missed Madrid's last two games through suspension, will of course be a boost against Atletico.

"For the team it is very good for Ronaldo [to be] back," he said. "We won both games without him, but for sure it will be good to have him back for the derbi."

Ancelotti also said that another bright spot from Wednesday's game had been the performance of young attacker Jese, who scored his first La Liga goal since returning from a long injury absence.

"We have finally seen the Jese of last season," the Italian coach said. "He has worked very well to get back to this. His game was excellent, he played very well, helped the team to defend, played a very complete game."