Iker Casillas has lamented Real Madrid’s loss in form this season, admitting that the points gap to Barcelona ‘hurts’.
Madrid drew 2-2 on Sunday evening ahead of Barca’s 4-1 win over Atletico Madrid, results that see the gap between the traditional title challenger opened to 13 points in the Catalans’ favour.
“Things are not going as well as last season. It’s the same team, but it is not being reflected in the results like last season,” reflected captain Casillas at full-time.
“We have perhaps lost a little of the respect that we earned ourselves on the pitch. We also have to fight and fight like them. It is not easy to grasp that there is such a big gap between us and the leaders.
“There are lots of points, it’s December and the first half of the season has not finished. It hurts. We have a big squad that is well balanced and we have good players.
“We have to please the fans who came to the Bernabeu, who want to see their team win and to go home happy.
“The League is very tough and the result has hurt us. We cannot let our heads go down and we want to do things as well as possible and to cut points gap with Atletico Madrid and Barcelona. We have to play well and keep clean sheets.”
Casillas conceded twice on Sunday and again the second, with two minutes to play, was from a set-piece situation. Over half of Madrid’s League goals conceded this term have come from set play.
“We had clear chances to score, they had a chance from a dead ball and scored. We were not clinical and have paid the price.
“These dead balls have to be defended well no matter what. Obviously we are conceding a number of goals that are costing us points and we don’t like it.
“We must put more emphasis on these things. That’s football and we have to move on, think of Malaga, and feel what it is like to win again.”
