MADRID, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Real Madrid midfielder Guti said on Tuesday that despite a complicated summer and an opening day defeat in their Primera Liga campaign, his side are still the ones to beat in Spain this season.

    The summer saw Real Madrid make only one signing - Rafael Van der Vaart - as they failed to land Spain internationals Santi Cazorla and David Villa, or Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo.

    Meanwhile Brazilian due Julio Cesar Baptista and Robinho have left the Santiago Bernabeu along with forward Roberto Soldado. That leaves Real looking short of numbers in attack, to such an extent that coach Bernd Schuster commented after watching his side lose 2-1 to Deportivo La Coruna that he simply had no striker on the substitutes bench to bring into the game.

    There are already rumors in Spain that Real will be making a move in the winter transfer market with a striker high on their shopping list, but speaking in the Tuesday press conference Guti was confident the club had a strong enough squad.

    "I think we can improve the squad, but if we have a bit of luck and then don't have many injuries, then we can compete in the three competitions (League, Champions League and Copa del Rey)."

    "The club tried to sign players and in some cases, such as with Van der Vaart, things have gone well. He is a great signing, but other attempts to bring people in didn't work out. I think we have a squad to face up to everything, but you can always improve," he said, before discussing their opening day defeat against Deportivo.

    "We had a difficult start to the season in a ground we have always struggled in, now after 15 days without a game, we have to give the fans some new hope for the season ahead and the best way to do that is to win at home," added the midfielder.

    Real Madrid have won the past two Primera Liga titles, but Guti made it clear that there is one competition that motivates them more than any other - the Champions League.

    "We want to win and we want to do things well, above all in Europe, where in recent years things have not gone our way," he said.

    With Real Madrid drawn in the same group as Juventus and reigning UEFA Cup winners Zenit St Petersburg, any errors in Europe this season, could be very costly for them.