Real Madrid attacker Isco has insisted that his team "never lost any confidence" during a difficult start to the 2017-18 campaign.

Los Blancos only won once in La Liga between August 27 and September 20, with a poor run of form leaving the reigning champions trailing Barcelona in Spain's top flight.

Real Madrid have won their last two against Alaves and Borussia Dortmund in the league and Champions League respectively, however, and will be confident of making it three straight victories when they host Espanyol on Saturday night.

Isco has admitted that Real Madrid's "La Liga results have not been good enough", but insists that Zinedine Zidane's side will bounce back from a difficult few weeks.

"We never lost any confidence during our poor streak," Marca quotes Isco as saying. "It was a fantastic match against Dortmund, a ground where we had never won before so it was very important for us.

"We were able to showcase our ability and it was a fantastic game to build our confidence further. Our La Liga results have not been good enough but also they are not an accurate reflection of our performances as everyone can see we have created chances, we've just missed that killer edge."

Sixth-placed Real Madrid are currently seven points behind league leaders Barcelona.