Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos insists that he and his team-mates must be judged by their performance on the pitch, not their age, after they swept aside Atalanta to reach the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Zinedine Zidane's men were already 1-0 up in the tie from the first leg in Italy and made Atalanta pay for missing early opportunities as they completed a 4-1 aggregate win.
Karim Benzema, with the help of fellow veteran Luka Modric, fired the hosts in front on the night before captain fantastic Ramos stepped up to convert a penalty on the hour mark to double the hosts' lead.
Although Luis Muriel clipped in a fine free-kick to pull one back for the Serie A side, substitute Marco Asensio wrapped things up late on with a third goal to send Los Blancos marching on in Europe – and Ramos believes the results speak for themselves.
"No one can judge us by age, but by performance. That's what you have to look at,' the 34-year-old said after the game."
"In the end, when you've spent so many years taking care of yourself... when you plant seeds, you end up with a harvest."
"No one can judge anyone by age. We always try to perform to our best. People must look at performance."
Ramos was a part of a back-three along with Raphael Varane and Nacho Fernandez to nullify the Italian's side threatening press – a move the Spaniard claims ended up paying off.
"In the end, you work off the other team's plan," Ramos admitted.
"We didn't know they'd come out and press like that, but we quickly gained control with the back three and, with our pace up front, we knew we were dangerous on the counter attack."
"It worked out well because they weren't really a threat."
Ramos was also seen collapsing to the ground in despair after watching Vinicius Junior brilliantly weave through a number of players to set up a fabulous goalscoring chance, only to then fluff his lines when one-on-one with the Atalanta goalkeeper.
"You complain because it's a shame that, after doing the most difficult bit, that move didn't end in a goal," the defender said.
"I'd have been happy if Vini had scored that goal. Vini deserved a goal."
"I threw myself to the ground because I was hurting inside, because Vini deserved that goal."
"Whenever he plays, he leaves it all out there. He had a great game and I told him that as soon as I saw him on the bench."