Lucas Vazquez: 'Absentees not an excuse'

Lucas Vazquez has insisted that Real Madrid cannot blame absentees for their failure to overcome Celta Vigo in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey.

A 2-2 draw in the second leg at the Balaidos on Wednesday night saw Celta advance to the semi-finals courtesy of a 4-3 aggregate success over the Madrid giants.

Los Blancos were without the likes of Raphael Varane, Marcelo, Luka Modric and Gareth Bale for the second leg, but Vazquez has refused to use injuries as an excuse for the team's elimination.

"It's now about focusing on the other two competitions. We tried everything, but they found two goals, not by luck, but with them, the game swung from one side to another and we couldn't [find the winner]," Vazquez told reporters.

"Our missing players? We've been showing that we're responding to whoever comes out of the team. It would be disingenuous to say that we felt our absences."

Real Madrid, who have wobbled at the start of 2017 following a strong 2016, will look to return to winning ways in La Liga when they host Real Sociedad on Sunday night.