Real Madrid left-back Marcelo has admitted that his team were made to pay for a 'bad start' after conceding the La Liga title to Barcelona on the final weekend of the season.

Los Blancos kept to their end of the bargain by beating Deportivo La Coruna 2-0 on Saturday afternoon, but Barcelona, who lost three successive games in April, recorded a 3-0 win at Granada to claim the title.

Real ultimately finished just one point off the league winners, and Marcelo has claimed that a difficult start under previous boss Rafael Benitez cost the Madrid giants the chance to take the crown from Camp Nou.

"Winning the league is always difficult. We started badly, 13 points off first and in the end we managed to cut it and we've reached a point where we're only a point behind," Marcelo told AS.

"We've improved a lot and now we have [the Champions League Final] to try and close the season well. It's hard when Madrid don't win any trophy. Madrid always have to win. The coach arrived in mid-season and it's difficult. We'll work for these next [14] days to arrive well at a game that will be very tough."

Real Madrid will face Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final on May 28 in Milan.