Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has claimed that his team "lost the match in 10 minutes" after suffering a 2-1 defeat at Valencia in Wednesday night's La Liga clash.

Los Blancos had the chance to open up a four-point lead over second-placed Barcelona in La Liga, but the league leaders suffered a narrow loss at the Mestalla in what was one of their two games in hand.

Goals from Simone Zaza and Fabian Orellana saw Valencia take a two-goal lead inside the opening nine minutes of the clash, and Zidane has conceded that his side were made to pay for a lacklustre start.

"Defensive mistakes? Yes, because the truth is that we lost the match in 10 minutes. We started well with the ball and had chances, but we made two mistakes and conceded two goals," Zidane told reporters.

"We then had 80 minutes to get back into the game. We did, but we lacked many things today. There was an opportunity to pick up points and we didn't. We were punished. They then shut up shop.

"Psychological effect of the defeat? I hope that none of us are affected. What we have to do is always be attentive. If you're not focused, you get punished. We have to be a bit prompter [at the start of games]. In those 10 minutes, we weren't ready or attentive."

Next up for table-topping Real Madrid is a trip to Villarreal on Sunday night.