Manuel Pellegrini has admitted that Real Madrid are lucky to have Cristiano Ronaldo within their ranks.
The Portugal international has enjoyed a splendid campaign since moving to the Santiago Bernabeu for a record-breaking transfer fee of Ј80million last summer.
And he scored twice on Sunday to seal a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Osasuna that keeps Real just a point behind Barcelona in the Primera Liga title race.
Manager Pellegrini was far from happy with his team's defending but paid tribute to the character of his players and Ronaldo's brilliance.
"He's a player who makes the difference and we are fortunate he's with us," said Pellegrini.
"I think the team is very strong, especially on a psychological level. This is vital in the final stage of the season.
"I think we've had the worst game of the season in defence, we were very weak at the back.
"We suffered a lot. It wasn't an easy game and Osasuna made things very difficult."
Ronaldo reactionRonaldo, who believes Barcelona could still slip up, felt the whole Real side was under-par.
"In my opinion all the team were very bad. I'm speaking of those up front, those in the middle and those at the back," he told Marca .
"We cannot allow Osasuna to have caused us so much danger.
"We need to remember we are playing for the league and we need to be more focused.
"It can't happen again, because on another occasion we are not going to be able to bounce back. But we had the fortune of being able to do it today.
"If you lose points at this moment you lose the title. Thank God we managed to score the third goal and win the game.
"We need to continue winning. Barcelona have a great team but the great teams also lose. We need to think that it's possible that they will drop points."
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