No crisis at Real - Perez

Real Madrid chairman Florentino Perez has denied that the club is in a crisis during what he had hoped would be a glorious centenary year.

With the team registering just five points from six league games so far this season, they have it all to do if they are to pick up their 29th league title in May.

Perez laughed off remarks that the team is in crisis telling reporters on Friday: "Well I'm not happy with the situation but Real Madrid is a club that is always up for dealing with difficult circumstances, we have a great side and I'm sure that we'll leave this sorry state we're in and go forward. There's a whole season ahead of us - last season we didn't start well but we ended up as champions and that's what we're going to do this time".

Real, however, now must win approximately two thirds of the remaining games to have a chance of lifting the title, a tall order for the best of teams.

Sports Manager Jorge Valdano recognises that the club needs to take a good look at itself and deal with the problems it is facing if it is to salvage anything from the season. "It's a delicate moment for us, something's gone wrong somewhere along the line but we now must ignore the league table and concentrate on the games as they come," he said.