Benfica stunned Real Madrid 4-2 in their final Champions League group game, with the result seeing both teams into the hat for today's round 16 play-off draw. It's since been announced that the two teams will meet again in the play-offs.
Mijatovic said on Cadena SER: "I saw a superior Benfica, faster, more alert and with more desire. I was left sad, but above all quite worried. Real Madrid didn't leave me with a good feeling.
"Despite the result, I didn't see a team that knows what it's doing.
"Have the old ghosts reappeared, the ones that haunted Xabi Alonso and (Carlo) Ancelotti last year? Yes... last year they didn't win anything and they fell into a pattern of 'we'll fix it,' 'it's temporary,' 'it's nothing,' 'we'll improve'... And that's very dangerous in football.
"You can't just improve whenever you want, so that the results, the good atmosphere, and the rhythm come.
"I think Real Madrid, not just now, but since last year, has fallen into the mindset of 'it's no big deal, we've won so many Champions Leagues...', and in football, and especially at Real Madrid, a lot is always happening. You always have to give more and more."
Mbappe not a leader
On the dressing room, Mijatovic says a lack of leadership is being shown on the pitch.
He continued: "I think Real Madrid lacks a leader, not a player who makes a difference. I don't see a leader who says, 'What the hell are we doing?' A Sergio Ramos, Modric, Benzema, Fernando Hierro, Raúl... A leader the camera focuses on.
"(Kylian) Mbappé is a great footballer, but he's not a leader. (Zinedine) Zidane wasn't a leader with France, but he was the best player. Goals don't make Mbappé a leader.
"In my generation, the leader was Fernando Hierro, and when Fernando said something, you had to do it no matter what."
Arbeloa not the issue
Asked about the inexperience of Alvaro Arbeloa, Mijatovic insists the problems are player-driven, not with the coach.
He concluded: "When Xabi Alonso had already left, I said that perhaps it wasn't a coaching problem. And I still say that. Álvaro Arbeloa has arrived, a coach who perhaps doesn't have enough experience, but who is a Real Madrid fan and knows the players and the club, and again you see these signs of complacency.
"And I think we have to start asking ourselves if a coach can fix this. It's not the president's fault: I think the players will have to wake up a bit and ask themselves how they can improve.
"Against Benfica, you see them lose the ball and it doesn't seem to matter to them, they act as if they're the best in the world and as if nothing's wrong. It's fatigue, complacency... I don't see the spark and I don't see anything."