Julen Lopetegui made a point of highlighting injuries to key players after his strong start as Real Madrid coach ended with three winless matches in succession.
After being hired as Zinedine Zidane's successor, Lopetegui presided over a solid start to the season, dropping just two points in his first six matches across LaLiga and the Champions League.
But Madrid were beaten 3-0 by Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on September 26, which was followed by a 0-0 draw with Atletico Madrid and Tuesday's shock 1-0 defeat away to CSKA Moscow.
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The pressure on Lopetegui has started to increase, but he is adamant it is only a blip, pointing to his lengthy injury list after Dani Carvajal – who he expects to miss a few weeks with a calf problem – was added on Thursday.