Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has accused other teams in Spain's Primera Division of making life easy for his club's big rivals Barcelona by fielding understrength sides.
Mourinho was referring to the team put out by Sporting Gijon coach Manuel Preciado, who left out several of his first-team regulars for Wednesday night's clash at the Nou Camp, which Barca won 1-0.
"If there are teams that gift games to Barca, it's going to be a lot harder for us to win the league," Mourinho said at a press conference.
"We are going to need a lot of points to win the league and if, on top of that, there are some teams that are going to put out their second team when they think they are not going to win, we will need even more."
Mourinho also defended Cristiano Ronaldo, who was dubbed "egotistical" earlier this week by television presenter Sara Carbonero, who is also the girlfriend of Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas.
"A forward has to be selfish," he said.
"It's a positive egotism and it's a big characteristic in strikers that score lots of goals.
"Against Espanyol, even when we were winning 3-0, Cristiano was coming back to defend the corners, which shows he is a team player and not selfish."
Mourinho is not fully satisfied with his side, however, despite winning three matches in a row, and hopes they can improve their concentration at the Bernabeu.
"I'm not asking for anything out of this world. The only thing I don't like is the lack of concentration when we're playing at home," he said.
The Portuguese coach is pleased, however, with striker Karim Benzema and plans to give more opportunities to the France forward in the coming weeks.
"I'm much happier with how he's working and how he's playing. He hasn't played much and he deserves to play more. I have more confidence in him than a month ago and I have to give him more opportunities," he said.
Madrid travel to promoted side Levante on Saturday and do so as league leaders, having picked up 10 points from their opening four league matches.
Mourinho is expecting a tough match in Valencia, however.
"No match is easy - there are squads and coaches of great quality, as well a demanding crowd, who want quality play (from their team)," he said.
Madrid have won their two home matches without conceding a goal, but have looked less convincing on the road.
Mourinho's side drew 0-0 at Real Mallorca on the opening weekend and were lucky to beat Real Sociedad 2-1 on their last away outing.
Levante began the season with three straight defeats, but secured their first win since returning to the top flight on Wednesday night, when they beat Almeria 1-0 in Andalusia.
Levante coach Luis Garcia, a former Atletico Madrid player, is highly motivated ahead of Saturday's clash.
"An ex-Atletico man will always want to beat Real Madrid," he said.
Levante have seven players out for tomorrow's match, with Felipe Caicedo, Javi Venta, Juanfran, Vicente Iborra, Hector Rodas, Valdo and Miguel Perez all sidelined.
Pepe is suspended for Madrid, while Kaka, Sergio Canales, Raul Albiol, Ezequiel Garay and Fernando Gago miss out through injury.
