Zinedine Zidane has said he has no intention of resigning as Real Madrid manager after the Spanish giants extended their poor run of form with a 2-0 defeat at Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Substitutes Dentinho and Manor Solomon both scored second-half goals in Kiev as Shakhtar stunned the 13-time European champions again, having already won 3-2 in Madrid in October.
Shakhtar had lost their last two Group B matches against Borussia Moenchengladbach by an aggregate score of 10-0, but this victory allowed them to move above Madrid into second place with one game remaining.
Gladbach top the group by one point, while Shakhtar now have the upper hand on Real thanks to their superior head-to-head record.
However, Inter Milan's 3-2 win away to Gladbach not only kept the Italians alive, but also limited the damage for Real, who now know a win at home to the Germans next week will take them through, regardless of how Shakhtar fare in their last game.
Madrid have progressed from the group stages every year since 1997 and so failure to qualify would be seen as a disaster, but Zidane said he would not leave the club he has so far led to three Champions League triumphs and two La Liga titles over two spells as coach.
"I am not going to resign, not at all," said Zidane. "We are always going to have difficult moments, and we are on a bad run, but we need to keep going."
"I have the strength needed to turn the situation around and I am going to give everything to do that, so are the players," added the Frenchman, whose team also lost at the weekend, going down 2-1 at home to Alaves in La Liga.
"We played well and we deserved more. We just need to lift our heads up and think about the next game."
The next game is a tough La Liga away trip to Sevilla, who sit one point and one place below Madrid in the standings, albeit with a game in hand. Madrid enter Saturday's match having failed to win in their past three league outings, following defeats to Valencia and Alaves either side of a draw with Villarreal.