Levante raced into a two-goal lead inside 15 minutes at the Santiago Bernabéu through José Luis Morales and a penalty from Roger Martí. On the other hand, Real hit the post three times and had two goals ruled out.

Marcelo finally ended Real’s longest-ever goal drought, spanning 482 minutes, by thumping one into the net but an equaliser proved elusive for Lopetegui’s side, who are fifth in the La Liga standings.

“Right now that (the position as coach) is the last thing that I’m thinking about,” Lopetegui told reporters.

“I feel more encouraged than ever to continue because the team gave their heart and soul on the pitch. Sooner or later we will come out of this.”

“The dressing room was sad but the players are keen to lift themselves up and look to the next game. The players gave everything and we will get out of this situation.”

Lopetegui, fired as Spain coach on the eve of the World Cup after announcing he was joining Real, has lost five games in all competitions since taking over the European champions, and has also presided over the club’s worst ever goal drought.

Real host Viktoria Plzeň in the Champions League on Tuesday before a crunch game away to arch-rivals Barcelona next Sunday, and the coach admitted his team need to have a meeting to address their failures in front of goal.

“We have to sit down and think hard about what we are doing wrong and change our path. The ball is just not going in. We have to just keep trying and not worrying, because the team did many things right today,” he added.

“I think that we deserved to win today clearly, but football is how it is, the team who scores the most goals is the one who wins and we did everything you need to do to score.”

“Some very strange things happened as it sometimes does in football. We attacked a lot and very well, but we have to keep trying and nothing more. We have to change our dynamic and start winning games.”