Zinedine Zidane has hit back at Real Madrid's critics by suggesting that their recent defeats are little more than a minor blip.

The reigning European champions set a Spanish record of 40 games unbeaten in all competitions earlier in January and remain top of La Liga.

However, they followed up their first league defeat of the season at Sevilla with a 2-1 first-leg loss to Celta Vigo in the Copa del Rey, prompting boos from the Real fans during their 2-1 win over Malaga.

"Listening to some of these questions you'd think we were battling relegation," Zidane is quoted by Sky Sports News as saying ahead of the second leg against Celta.

"I'm not worried and neither are the players. We're in high spirits. Tomorrow we have a really exciting game.

"We're going to try and win everything we have in front of us and that's not going to change, we're not going to throw in the towel. If we don't win [the tie] it wouldn't be our biggest failure, although I'm not contemplating that at the moment."

Real Madrid last won La Liga in 2012, while their last Copa del Rey came in 2014.