Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos said it was important to see his side recapture some of their best form in Tuesday's Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund.
A goal from Gareth Bale and a Cristiano Ronaldo double gave the holders a 3-1 victory at Signal Iduna Park and kept them top of Group H with six points from six.
Madrid's domestic performances have been well short of the expected standard, with three wins from their first six La Liga games allowing Barcelona to open up a seven-point lead on the champions.
Ramos felt it was crucial to deliver a strong display against the Bundesliga leaders, telling Atresmedia : "After everything that had been talked about, we had to continue with our football, which is what will put us on track for the achievements we want.
"Football is like that; there's a new game every three days. We were eager to recapture the best Madrid, a Madrid with a lot of personality, and we've got our morale pretty high after a good game.
"Even though it's just the group stage, it's important to play a great game."
Bale opened the scoring with a sublime volley, before Ronaldo scored either side of a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang strike to mark his 400th Madrid appearance with his 410th and 411th goals for the club.
Ramos is delighted to see the top two find some confidence in attack but was eager to praise the efforts of the entire team.
"It was a game where, regardless of those goals, which are really important, you have to highlight the collective work," he said. "They are dangerous on the break and we were able to control that.
"I'm happy for Bale and Cristiano, who have rediscovered their goalscoring touch, and we've benefited from that."
What a night in Dortmund!
— Real Madrid C.F.🇬🇧 (@realmadriden) September 26, 2017
WHAT. A. NIGHT! #RMUCL pic.twitter.com/VIX72uCbrS
Ramos was involved in a controversial moment prior to Bale's opener, with a Maximilian Philipp effort striking his raised hand in the penalty area after deflecting off Keylor Navas.
Dortmund head coach Peter Bosz felt it was a penalty – although he accepted the final score was fair – but Ramos explained why referee Bjorn Kuipers made the correct call.
"It was quite quick. I'm pretty honest: it hit me on the hand, but Keylor deflected it," he said.
"We were given a talk recently where we were told that, when it's not deliberate, it's not a penalty.
"It's true that the referees here let you play football a little more [than in Spain] and I like that a lot."
