"There was nothing wrong with our attitude," Real Madrid defender Nacho told the press after Wednesday's 3-1 defeat to Tottenham at Wembley but the stats seem to suggest that 'Los Blancos' are not exactly busting a gut in Euorpean games this season.
Simply put, Real are being outran by their rivals, whether that be down to their bad attitude or their rivals' good attitude.
Take the Spurs game for example, Real ran almost 12km less than their opponents on Wednesday, almost the average of one whole player over 90 minutes.
That game was no exception though, with Real also having ran 7km less than APOEL at the Bernabeu, 6.5km less than Borussia Dortmund in Germany and 8.1km less than Spurs in the reverse fixture in Spain, making a total of some 33km.
Real may not want to admit it but there is something wrong behind the scenes at the moment. When you strip back the cliches and the platitudes, much of football is simply about wanting it more than your opponent, something that Real cannot be accused of if these stats are to be believed.