Raul believes the "moment of truth" has arrived for Real Madrid after seeing their advantage at the top of La Liga trimmed to four points.Madrid looked to be coasting to the title not so long ago, but a dismal recent run of form which has seen them lose five of their last eight matches means a second successive championship is now no longer a foregone conclusion.

The whites' latest setback came against struggling Valencia on Sunday, when Los Che snatched a 3-2 victory at the Bernabeu thanks to a late goal from former Atletico Madrid player Javier Arizmendi.

That defeat means Madrid are now just four points clear of second-placed Barcelona and six points above third-placed Villarreal with nine games remaining - the next of which sees Sevilla come to the Bernabeu.

It is now a far more interesting title race than Madrid would have wanted, but Raul remains confident his side can still come out on top.

"We are in a situation that is still good and we are going to continue working," said Raul, whose brace against Valencia took his season tally to 15 league goals.

"We are already thinking about next Sunday's game, where we need to at least make sure our lead is not reduced anymore."

Madrid can consider themselves unfortunate not to have got anything out of Sunday's match against Valencia, with visiting goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand performing heroics to deny the home side.

At the other end, defensive mistakes that could have been avoided allowed Valencia to score twice through Spain striker David Villa before Arizmendi stunned the home crowd with an 88th-minute winner.

"We had the game under control. I think that the team did some things very well," Raul continued.

"We had many chances, more than in the last few games, but it is true that we have committed errors that have cost us two goals, and we have to work on them."

On the race for the title, Raul added on his club's website: "There are many rivals and neither Barcelona nor Villarreal can be discounted.

"We need to fight. There are nine games remaining and every week from now on is going to be a final.

"The moment of truth has arrived, and now if you lose it is normal that other teams get closer to you because not all three teams are going to lose at the same time.

"We are eager to continue working and right now we will try to maintain the advantage that we have."

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