Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho was delighted with victory over AC Milan in the US.
Goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Andre Schurrle saw Chelsea runout 2-0 winners.
Mourinho said: "It was difficult. They are a team with great experience,' he said. 'You see the midfield, Montolivo, Muntari, Boateng coming inside, I am speaking about players with great experience. They know how to play football. They're with Massimiliano Allegri for a long time now and are tactically mature, they know how to defend.
"Mario Balotelli is very fast with El Shaarawy, so it was a good experience for us. From a tactical point of view they gave us something to work on, a different kind of problem, and Real Madrid will be different too. We need this to arrive the best we can at the Hull City match. [In pre-season] we have five victories but zero points, and we need points.
"Tonight we played 4-2-1-3, only with two midfield players, Marco van Ginkel and Michael Essien, and we finished with Mikel and Ramires.
"We have very creative players to play around the striker. All of them are fast, creative, young, [there are] many options. Eden Hazard, Andre Schurrle, Victor Moses, De Bruyne, lots of options and quality."
