Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said he was with his players after Wednesday's 2-1 loss at Valencia -- his first since returning to the Bernabeu bench -- and that each defeat in this "difficult season" was painful.
Valencia were the better organised and motivated team throughout and deservedly went 2-0 up through Goncalo Guedes and Ezequiel Garay before Los Blancos striker Karim Benzema headed a goal back in the game's final action.
A ninth La Liga defeat of the season leaves Madrid now 13 points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona with eight games remaining - and also already out of the Champions League and Copa del Rey.
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"This is a difficult moment, a difficult season," Zidane said at the post-match news conference. "We want to finish this season as high as possible, this defeat makes that more difficult. It is a tough year, but I am with my players. We must accept that sometimes you have bad moments. We will keep trying to improve. They will battle until the end. We have a month when we will have to speak about other things ... we will try and finish this season well and then prepare for next year."
Asked if it was difficult to motivate a team with nothing really left to play for this season, Zidane said his players would keep battling and looking to improve over the remaining weeks of the season.
"If we always talk about the same thing we will not play for anything," he said. "We have these games left and we want to do well. We will keep going like this, battling and trying to play better. This is a team who always battles and fights, even if we do not play as we want, even if the season is difficult like this. Each defeat is difficult. But the players kept putting in an effort until the end, with the goal from Karim."
Zidane claimed that his team had not played so badly, but just lacked some "punch" in attack.
"I always like my team, although I don't like the defeat," Zidane said. "Today we were not bad, we played against a good team. We are going home without any points but I think it was an even game, with a close scoreboard. We lacked a bit of punch up front, the first half hour we played very well, pressing them up top, but we did not find the first goal, did not get create enough. I am satisfied with what the players did. But defeats always hurt."
Left-back Marcelo had another difficult evening, culminating in a yellow card for diving which means the club vice-captain will be suspended for Saturday's game at home to Eibar.
"I see Marcelo well," Zidane said. "Marcelo is Marcelo and I will count on him. He is an important player and I like how he plays. Saturday will be a chance for [youngster Sergio] Reguilon. We will see what happens at the end of the season. The season is difficult, not just for Marcelo, but for all of them. But we must accept difficult moments, that is part of the life of a player."