Real coach remains bullish despite Levante defeat

Real Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui insisted that losing his job was the last thing on his mind despite a 2-1 home defeat to Levante on Saturday which leaves his side without a win in a month.

The game also saw Lopetegui's side set a new club record of 481 minutes without a goal before Marcelo gave them hope with his 72nd minute strike, which in the end was not enough to earn a point.

The press had speculated over Lopetegui's sacking after a 1-0 defeat to Alaves a fortnight ago, and Saturday's defeat only increases the pressure on the former Spain boss, although he was bullish about his team's performance when speaking to the press after the game.

"We did enough to deserve to win comfortably, but football is like this. We had 34 shots, 14 of them on target, while they (Levante) only had the shots they scored from," said Lopetegui, whose side also had two goals disallowed and hit the woodwork three times.

"We had chances, posts, saves and goals ruled out; what we have to do now is continue, the team has done a lot of things well and I know the dynamic is going to change," he continued.

When asked if he feared losing his job after just 9 league matches, Lopetegui responded that it was "the last thing I am thinking about. The players don't deserve this and all I am thinking about is helping the team recover."

"I feel more motivated than ever; because of the way the players reacted, because the way they reacted to misfortune. We are going to turn this around sooner or later. Football has been unfair to us and we want to pick ourselves up," he concluded.

Real Madrid's next two games see them entertain Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League on Tuesday before visiting the Camp Nou Stadium to face bitter rivals FC Barcelona next weekend.