Real Madrid defender Nacho has admitted that Sunday's shock 2-1 defeat at Girona was "a painful loss".

Los Blancos gave up a one-goal lead to lose in Catalonia, which has left the reigning champions eight points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona on the same number of matches.

Nacho has conceded that the result is damaging for Real Madrid's title ambitions, but the defender insists that his team will bounce back from their second league defeat of the 2017-18 campaign.

"It was a painful loss," Marca quotes Nacho as saying. "We were playing well and scored first but we could not respond when they came back into the match, we had no answers.

"Usually we are a very confident team and find ways to win but this match was different and after a bad spell we could not react positively.

"The league standings? Eight points to the gap is not favourable for us but we are Real Madrid and we know anything is possible. There are still many points left to play for."

Next up for Real Madrid is a trip to Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League on Wednesday night.