As Real Madrid take on Schalke in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, there is a sense of crisis at the club after a difficult January.

But are problems being magnified more than they should be?

We were joined on the line by La Liga expert Sid Lowe on Off The Ball and starting off with Cristiano Ronaldo's knee issues, he says: "The issue with his knee is an ongoing one. It's clear that at the World Cup, he wasn't fully fit. There is a concern about that in terms of what kind of impact it will have on him in the next year or two years."

Lowe also picked out a tactical reason why Ronaldo's form has tailed off slightly in recent weeks and believes that off-the-record suggestions that Ronaldo's is mentally not right after splitting with his girlfriend has a scent of "self-interest" from the club, as a means of deflecting from any physical question marks.

Lowe also spoke about the culture of booing from the club's fans after the likes of Iker Casillas, Gareth Bale and Ronaldo to a lesser extent were on the end of whistles. 

But he also gave his take on the body language of the team. 

 "I think they are team that looks de-motivated. It's not necessarily fattened by the success. I wouldn't describe this as a team that's won the European Cup and therefore has nothing to play for. I think that it's a team that won the European Cup, went on a run of 22 consecutive games, won the World Club Championships and then went on holiday," said Lowe, before touching on the post-Christmas break descent in form, visible fatigue of players like 2014 World Cup winner Toni Kroos and the depth of the squad.