MADRID (Euroleague) - There aren't many experts that would have predicted the scenario that Real Madrid face heading into their game against Crvena Zvezda this week.

But the facts speak for themselves.

Six games into their European title defence and the standings show Pablo Laso's team has just two wins.

Real, in fact, could easily be 1-5 because they only scraped a 101-99 home triumph over Bayern Munich on 5 November.

With only the top four sides in each of the four groups advancing to the next phase of the competition, there isn't much room for error for Laso's team.

They are fourth in Group A behind Fenerbahce (5-1), Khimki Moscow Region (4-2) and surprise package Strasbourg (3-3), who beat Real, 93-86, in Week Five.

But Bayern and Crvena Zvezda, like Real, are each 2-4.

So what is to be made of this?

Khimki have already swept Real, beating them for the second time last week.

One of Real's two wins came at home against an out-of-sorts Crvena Zvezda side that just lost its star player, Serbia international Luka Mitrovic, to a serious knee injury.

Even so, they looked like a team that was about to take off.

It hasn't happened that way, though.

Are Real's players tired, or maybe not as hungry for success after sweeping all before them in 2014-15?

Rudy Fernandez, one of the Spain players who will be headed to next year's Olympics after this summer's EuroBasket title triumph in France, says Real need to pull out all stops in their next four Euroleague games.

"We still have to play four more games and these are like four finals for us," he said.

It's hard to imagine that a star-studded team that has plenty of experience in European basketball is in a predicament such as Real's is.

Look at the roster.

Mexico's Gustavo Ayon, Argentina's Andres Nocioni, Lithuania's Jonas Maciulis, Sweden's Jeffery Taylor, Spain's Sergio Rodriguez, Sergio Llull, Fernandez, Felipe Reyes and Willy Hernangomez and Azerbaijan's Jaycee Carroll all wear the jersey of Los Blancos.

Ayon was the MVP of the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship and both he and Nocioni, who helped Argentina reach the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship Final to qualify for the Olympics, were All-Star Five selections this summer in Mexico City.

All of Real's Spain's players are just two months removed from a famous EuroBasket championship success.

Rodriguez and Maciulis, who punched his Olympic ticket after leading Lithuania in the Final, earned spots in the EuroBasket All-Star Five.

Laso is playing it cool.

Perhaps he is right to do so.

"I am not especially worried about the standings," he said.

"We know we will qualify if we win all four games, that we may not qualify if we win three, but also that we may qualify with two wins, too.

"I am worried about our next game, but the feeling I get is good and we should not be afraid of anyone."

Since taking over at the beginning of the 2011-12 season, Laso has won 150 games in the Spanish Liga Endesa, 84 in the Euroleague, nine in the Copa del Rey, six in the Super Cup and one in the Intercontinental Cup.

His last three teams have made it to the Euroleague Finals.

All of Laso's previous 250 wins overall with Real? They are in the past.

This is the here and now, so the club has to prove once again it is as good as people thought it was before the season.

FIBA