Real pressure mounts for Hierro

The pressure to win is affecting Real Madrid, according to skipper Fernando Hierro, after the club got off to their worse start for 13 years.

Real's start to the season has not been convincing as the team continued their poor run by managing just a 1-1 draw against Malaga at the weekend.

Hierro explained on Sunday: "We had a bad day on Saturday, we lacked intensity but there's no point in going over it. I wouldn't put the blame on tiredness due to the recent international games - there are players who haven't been involved in the World Cup qualifiers and so they should be in good physical shape."

But with the arrival of Zinedine Zidane, plus the club gearing up for its centenary, the pressure is on for Real.

Hierro continued: "I've never experienced the pressure that we are under at the moment. In the summer, everyone was saying what a fantastic team we had and that we were going to win everything, now people are saying the opposite."

"We're going to have to be very strong mentally for this not to affect us -the psychological factor will play an important part of how we fare this year."