Having a 6 point lead over Girona and 8 points over Barcelona has never made Real Madrid feel safe. If you really watched the last match against Sevilla, Real Madrid and all their players were really frustrated when Sevilla made them unable to score. Ancelotti and his players didn't want to lose points which would likely make the two rivals closer, but luckily Luka Modric with his quality was able to score the winning goal.
So far Ancelotti has had no other choice but to continue relying on the same players in many matches. He has difficulty rotating because many of his players are still injured, as a result this will drain a lot of the players' energy which will likely reduce their performance due to fatigue. A busy schedule is clearly a problem until the time bomb explodes.
Real Madrid knows that its position at the top of the standings is very dangerous; therefore, Real Madrid never feels safe.
You were talking about pressures and i do agree real's position is alwasy bringing the club more pressure but this is not only happening to the real madrid. The competitors which are trying to stick to the real madrid is also feeling the same like real madrid.
When you are at the top and the pressure is about how you can always try to leading the competition even to be far away from your opponent. As competitors and the club placed below real madrid was always hoping real madrid to miss some matches and you can lead the competition.
To be fair, we shall also see that from the various perspective. The club like barcelona is also willing to get trophy this season to make sure xavi can regain his confidence to stay in barcelona much longer. I just wanna say it doesn't even matter on where you are placing now and the pressure is always coming to you.
Real Madrid must keep trying to win in the next match in order to get enough additional points to prevent Real Madrid from being overtaken by any team. Carlo Ancelotti may have thought about that and is still trying not to rely on some of the core players he has. So far, to maintain victory, there is no other choice but to provide a strategy with his trusted players.
Winning the game is a must for madrid. The club is still trying so hard to get three points even though it was almost getting draw or lose in the previous games. Real madrid has a very strong mentality at this time and it was also making the situation can be controlled by real madrid.
You should see how ancellotti keeps try to maintain the performance from their clubs. Ancellotti did everything to make sure real madrid will not be losnig three points.
Madrid aims to get multiple trophies and it must be consistent to win any game till the end of season. UCL still remains become the top target. Ancellotti consistently rotating the club since some players were imssed caused b injury.