Sergio Ramos: 'Real Madrid players united behind Zinedine Zidane'

Captain Sergio Ramos has defended manager Zinedine Zidane by insisting that the playing squad are equally at fault for Real Madrid's latest "failure".

The defending European and Spanish champions' campaign went from bad to worse on Wednesday night as they lost 2-1 against Leganes at the Bernabeu to exit the Copa del Rey at the quarter-final stage.

Madrid are also 19 points off the pace in La Liga and now have a do-or-die battle with Paris Saint-Germain on the horizon in the Champions League, but Ramos claims that it would be wrong to part company with under-fire boss Zidane at this stage.

"I'm not a big fan of changes," he told reporters post-match. "We are the first ones to stand up for Zidane. To fall in the Copa del Rey is a failure.

"These are tough times, but we must be as united as possible and not throw the rest of the season away. You have to learn from bad moments. We are all responsible and we hope that this serves some use in the future. We still have the Champions League."

Zidane took full responsibility for Madrid's latest defeat - their sixth of the campaign in domestic and European competition.