Cristiano Ronaldo's departure has been keenly felt by Real Madrid, according to goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, but the Santiago Bernabeu dressing room is not lamenting the loss of its former talisman.
Ronaldo left as Madrid's all-time record goalscorer when he joined Italian champion Juventus in July and Los Blancos' form has faltered this season.
Julen Lopetegui was sacked as head coach after a 5-1 Clasico thrashing at the hands of Barcelona and, although matters have improved marginally of late under Santiago Solari, it lies 10 points shy of its bitter rival at LaLiga's summit.
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Courtois arrived from Chelsea a month on from Ronaldo's exit and the Belgium international insists the spectre of the five-time Ballon d'Or winner does not linger over Madrid's season.
"He is not being talked about in the locker room," Courtois said in an interview with Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.
"It is mainly the press that drops his name. There were matches that we lost in which we got 10 chances but did not score.
"At the same time he scores two for Juventus. Then it's easy to talk about him."
An obvious void
Despite the best efforts of Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale – the latter amid persistent injury struggles – Courtois concedes the void left by Ronaldo is an obvious one.
"If Ronaldo leaves and there is no real top attacker in his place, you know that it will be a difficult year," he said. "You take 50 goals away.
"You hope that Benzema or Bale will score more and partly they do that too. We are making progress in the last few weeks.
"We have won the Club World Cup, are still active in the Copa del Rey and the Champions League.
"Okay, in LaLiga we are 10 points behind. But sometimes Barcelona also has difficult matches that they win in the last minute.
"Maybe it's a bit of a transitional year. For me it does not matter much if the first year is less if the next ones are top."
Indeed, Courtois sees parallels with his first season at Atletico Madrid – an association that ended with him helping Diego Simeone's men to their unforgettable LaLiga triumph in 2013-14.
"At Atletico it did not go well for the first six months either," he added.
"Then Simeone came and we were away. Those first six months have already been forgotten by many people."
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