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Real Madrid’s forwards have failed to fill the gap left by Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric said on Monday.

The Croatian, speaking ahead of Real’s Champions League last-16, second-leg clash with Ajax on Tuesday, said his team lacked consistency and goals this season.

Madrid failed to score in two Clasicos against Barcelona last week, being eliminated from the Copa del Rey and falling 12 points behind the Catalan league leaders, leaving retaining the Champions League as their only hope of glory.

Ronaldo, the European champions’ all-time top scorer, left in July to join Juventus and Madrid signed young attackers Vinicius Junior and Mariano Diaz but no big-name forward to replace the Portuguese. “The absence of Cristiano is something every team would feel; to find a replacement for Cristiano is almost impossible,” Modric told reporters.

“Given what he did for us and this club, we miss Cristiano. The club wanted the other players to make up for what he did, divided between the strikers and that is not easy.

“Cristiano scored 50 goals and you can’t find someone today who scores that many. Some of us have to take a step forward and, while not scoring 50, what we need is two or three players who score 15, 20, or 10 goals and we don’t have that.