After comfortably brushing aside Roma 3-0 in their opening Group G game, Real Madrid were below par against CSKA and succumbed to a strike by Nikola Vlasic after just two minutes.
The defeat signalled the first time that Los Blancos hadn’t scored in three consecutive games since Fabio Capello was in charge back in January 2007.
Karim Benzema, Casemiro and Mariano all hit the woodwork, but the La Liga giants struggled without the mercurial Gareth Bale who was out injured.
And Lopetegui, rather than read too much into the performance, merely suggested the result was a freak one.
When asked for his thoughts after the match, he said: “In the Champions League 10 days ago, we played a magnificent game against Roma.
“Neither were we great then, nor are we bad now.
“Football has these moments, it is not easy, but we must accept it and tomorrow move on and think about Alaves and La Liga.”
Lopetegui also rallied behind the under-fire Benzema, continuing: “We have full confidence in Karim.
Goals often come in bursts, he started season fantastically.
At the moment, he and the team are not doing well in front of goal, but we are convinced that he and they will be scoring again soon."
When pressed about what was missing from his side, Lopetegui added: “We lacked to score one of the many chances we created.
“We lacked that bit of luck, with four posts and so many chances.
Real dropped into second place in Group B courtesy of the result.
Lopetegui’s men now turn their attentions back to La Liga where they travel to face Alaves on Saturday (5.30pm BST).
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