Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane says retaining the Champions League this year was always going to be more difficult than winning the trophy last season.
Having won the competition twice in the last three years, Madrid begin their 2016-17 campaign against Sporting Lisbon at the Bernabeu on Wednesday looking to become the first team to retain the trophy since Milan won back to back European Cups in 1989 and 1990.
In almost three decades since, no club has repeated that achievement in the expanded Champions League format and Zidane told a news conference there was extra pressure as holders.
"We're not the big favourites -- there are always many teams who want to win the Champions League," he said. "We all know that. We are here to fight to win everything -- the coaches, the players, the staff.
"The Champions League is an objective for us, it will not be easy, just the opposite, it is more difficult still to repeat it. When you are the champion, every game is difficult, including the first tomorrow."
Having guided Madrid to the trophy just six months after replacing Rafael Benitez as coach last January, Zidane said he felt he was continuing to improve as he gained experience in the role.
"When I began as a coach people were questioning what I would be able to do," he said. "I can say that, with humility, I'm getting better. I improved as a player, and I'm improving as a coach.
"But maybe in six months this all ends. So at the moment I'm enjoying every moment, every training session, my players, the atmosphere. We must keep going like this. Only hard work will bring us trophies. There is the same pressure and same motivation as last year. I don't think that will change."
Having made his first appearance of 2016-17 in Saturday's 5-2 La Liga win at home to Osasuna, Zidane said that Cristiano Ronaldo was fit and ready to face his former club Sporting, where as a teenager he spent six years before joining Manchester United in 2003.
"[Ronaldo] is ready to play, he wants to play, the idea is that he plays the 90 minutes," the Frenchman said. "We will see how it goes, as during a game anything can happen. I'm always thinking about the 60 days he was out. For a player that is a long time.
"If you ask Cristiano, he wants to play the 90 minutes. [Sporting] is his club, he came through there, it is normal that it is an unusual game for him. But he is very professional, he always gives everything on the pitch. Once the whistle goes he will be focused on what he has to do, as he always is on the pitch."
James Rodriguez, Marcelo and Casemiro are in contention to start having been rested against Osasuna, with Isco available after recovering from an ankle injury and Karim Benzema also having proved his fitness last weekend.
"I had a coach, a while back, I won't say who, but he thought that the 11 players were enough for him," Zidane said. "These 11 had to play, others only came in when needed. I don't see things like that. All the competitions we have, the difficulty of playing every three days, for me the group is the important thing.
"That is my way of coaching this team. The players understand that. We are all in this together, to win things."