Zinedine Zidane sent out a "nothing changes", message after Real Madrid's 40-game unbeaten run came to an end at Sevilla's Sanchez Pizjuan stadium on Sunday.
His team looked like clear favourites to win the league before the defeat to Jorge Sampaoli's team and nothing about the 2-1 loss persuaded the coach that was not still the case.
"We knew this would happen one day," he said. "We just have to keep doing what we were doing before. I liked the way we played. We showed a lot of character."
When asked if the first defeat since last April would affect the team he issued a quiet but ominous warning to the rest: "No, you will see on Wednesday."
Real Madrid's ability to bounce back from such a rare loss will be aided by a favourable run of games in what remains of January.
They play Celta Vigo at home in the Copa del Rey this midweek and then Malaga at home in the league at the weekend.
Then they play the cup second-leg in Vigo and have league fixtures at home to Real Sociedad and away to Celta.
It's a very winnable run of matches and it sees them nicely into February where the Champions League draw also appears to have been kind, pairing them with Napoli.
The confidence that this was a blip as opposed to a downward curve derives from two factors: they deserved to take something from the game; and there was no accompanying injury crisis.
For long spells they frustrated Sevilla only to then give them a helping hand with an equalizer from the head of Sergio Ramos past his own goalkeeper.
It was not the tired display of a team about to fall apart under the weight of the fixture list.
When Real Madrid suffered a second-half of the season collapse two years ago it came courtesy of the enforced absences of James Rodriguez and Luka Modric. This season Gareth Bale is the only long-term injury and the team are coping admirably without him.
Bale's scheduled end-of-February return will give Madrid a huge lift for the run-in.
There is little question their squad is superior to Sevilla, who sit a point behind in second place but having played a game more.
Ramos said in the Sanchez Pizjuan on Sunday: "Of course Sevilla are title contenders but the tough part comes now; let's see who can last the pace."
Real Madrid have the strength in depth, they have the game-in-hand - against struggling Valencia - and they have this defeat to Sevilla to serve as a reminder that they are not invincible.
Marcelo added: "We can't repeat the mistakes we have made in this game. We need to make sure this doesn't happen again. But there is a long way to go and we never thought we had the league won."
The other good news for Real Madrid is that they will not have to play Sevilla in Sanchez Pizjuan again in the league this season.
They do meet in the Santiago Bernabeu on the penultimate weekend - but Zidane seemed confident on Sunday that by then Real will be almost home and dry.
By Pete Jenson
