It has been a difficult week for the reigning Spanish and European champions, Real Madrid; last weekend they lost 2-1 to newly promoted Girona before being outclassed 3-1 at Wembley Stadium by Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League. Watching Real Madrid this season though, it was a week that you felt like was always coming.
Following last season’s performances and the ease with which they dispatched Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup, big things were expected of Real Madrid this season. In Isco and Marco Asensio they appeared to have two young players ready to make the step up and many predicted that they would canter to the La Liga title against a deflated Barcelona side. That has simply not been the case though and going into Sunday’s game against Las Palmas, Real Madrid find themselves 11 points behind Barcelona and also trailing Spurs by three points in their Champions League group.
Pressure is now beginning to build on manager Zinedine Zidane, with many questioning his ability to change games when they are going badly and sections of the Real Madrid crowd are now speculating on whether he truly is the man to lead arguably the greatest side in club football. Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino is one man who has been linked with the job and he would certainly represent quite the coup for Real Madrid, but it remains to be seen whether he would leave his excellent, young Tottenham team. Paddy Power have priced him up at 11/2 to be the next Real Madrid boss, narrowly behind former manager Carlo Ancelotti (7/2) who was recently sacked as Bayern Munich manager.
When we look at the issue of what has gone wrong this season we must look at the players that Real Madrid have let go. Alvaro Morata, James Rodriguez, Pepe and Danilo all left this season; four first team squad members who have not really been replaced. Cristiano Ronaldo is 33 in February and he is starting to slow down, the Portuguese ace has found the net just once in La Liga this season, a stat made to look even worse when you see that Lionel Messi has scored 12 times already. With Gareth Bale injured, Madrid do lack pace in attack with Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Isco and at the back injuries to Keylor Navas and Raphael Varane have affected them.
Real Madrid are certainly not dead and buried this season, but you have to question why they didn’t make a move for the likes of Kylian M’bappe in the summer when they lost so many first team squad members. It’s going to be an interesting few months for Zidane and if they continue to slip further behind Barcelona in the title race then he could well be looking for a new job in 2018.