Keylor Navas has stressed that Real Madrid must have the "character to keep going" after crashing to a 1-0 defeat at Espanyol on Tuesday night.
A much-changed Blancos side, with Cristiano Ronaldo left out of the squad, fell behind to Gerard Moreno's 93rd-minute volley at the RCDE Stadium and could not recover from the late blow.
The defeat for Zinedine Zidane's charges is now their fifth of the La Liga season and could see them fall 17 points adrift of top spot if Barcelona beat Las Palmas on Thursday.
"It's logical that we leave here sad. We wanted the victory," Real goalkeeper Navas told beIN Sports after the game.
"You have to learn from these games and think about what's next. I don't see it as a step back. Sometimes you win and sometimes you don't, but you must have character to keep going.
"League almost impossible? It's not in our favour, but we have to be professional enough to know that we can't only be motivated if we're near [the top].
"There are seasons when things go better than in others, but we're a team and all of us are winners or losers."
Real return to action on Saturday with a home league game against Getafe.
Giuseppe Labellarte
