Luka Modric has claimed that lesser teams 'up their game' when they play Real Madrid.
Third-placed Madrid suffered a fifth defeat in La Liga last weekend when they went down 1-0 at struggling Granada.
"In every game we want to do our best but sometimes, unfortunately, we can not always achieve this," Modric told reporters. "The other teams give their utmost against us so it's not easy.
"Teams are more motivated when they play against Real Madrid so we need to be at our best if we want to win. When we don't play at our best, we start to have problems."
Madrid host Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabeu in the league on Saturday night.
