Cristiano Ronaldo admits Real Madrid miss Alvaro Morata

Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has admitted that the club are lacking the experience, which could drive them forward in the busy end of the campaign. The La Liga holders suffered back-to-back defeats to Girona and Tottenham Hotspur respectively, and this has crept doubts over Los Blancos' title credentials this season.

The European champions are already eight points behind Barcelona in the Spanish La Liga while they also trail Tottenham Hotspur in their Champions League after suffering their first defeat in the competition's group stage since October 2012 - a period where they went 30 games unbeaten.

In a report covered by Metro, Ronaldo admitted that his side are missing the likes of Pepe, Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez (on loan at Bayern Munich) who provided the added experience in the club's ranks. Dani Carvajal and Gareth Bale are also in the treatment room at Los Blancos, but this does not stand as an excuse for the poor showing, as per Ronaldo.

He said, "The players who have come in have great potential. But Pepe, Morata and James Rodriguez made us stronger – now the team is younger. We are also without [Dani] Carvajal and [Gareth] Bale. It’s not a worse squad, but it has less experience and that is very important – though it is not an excuse. I’m happy and don’t want to set off alarms."

Real Madrid have a home fixture versus Las Palmas prior to the international break, and Ronaldo and co. will seek to claim all three points to keep up with Barcelona, who are flying high in the league standings. The departure of Neymar has not affected Barcelona one bit, and they are on the rise with no defeat since their Spanish Super Cup thumping to Real Madrid in early August. Ernesto Valverde's men play host to Sevilla this weekend.