When things aren't going well, it's not uncommon for teams to hold meetings in order to hammer out the problems they're facing on – and sometimes off – the pitch.

But being second in the league with a game in hand wouldn't seem to suggest that there are many problems, but Real Madrid are a different beast when it comes to issues like that.

Head Coach Zinedine Zidane revealed that his players held their third meeting over the past two days after having to fight from behind to scrape a 3-3 draw with Las Palmas and losing top spot to arch rivals Barcelona.

A report in Spanish publication Marca stated that Sergio Ramos did most of the talking during the latest meeting, and he reminded his teammates of something they can do to make life easier for star player Cristiano Ronaldo.

With Ronaldo scoring and providing so many goals for Los Blancos, Ramos wants his teammates to pick up the slack with some extra running to free the 32-year-old up to do what he does best.

The meeting reportedly began at 10:30 on Friday morning and mostly centred around how Real are going to beat Eibar over the weekend with the tone taking a more serious turn after they'd failed to extend their lead at the top of the league.

The three captains – Marcelo, Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos – were the men charged with leading the meeting, with Ramos apparently doing most of the talking.

"Here, the only one who doesn't have to run is Cristiano, who scores 60 goals," Ramos said.

It is thought that the meeting had a positive effect, with midfielder playmaker Luka Modric, who spoke of 'running, fighting and dignifying the shirt'.

The first of the three meetings took part in the dressing room after the draw with Las Palmas, only not all of the squad were present, with the second coming just days later at their Valdebebas training base.

What was covered at the second meeting remains a mystery as all players were present and available for that one, too.

Zinedine Zidane was informed of the meeting and sat back to let the players conduct their affairs without his interference. The report also states that there were no reproaches towards the man in charge from the squad.

Zidane and his players will be looking to bounce back quickly from having lost and drawn one each of their past three league games and failing to make their advantage of having two games in hand over Barca.

However, they will have to do it without Gareth Bale, who has been handed a two-match ban for receiving a red card during the Las Palmas draw.