Real Madrid Stats: Back to the Glory Days? [OPINION]

With four Champions League titles since 2014, the return of Zidane, who coached Madrid to three of those wins, surely Real Madrid are looking to make a return to the top? Well, not really.

Real Madrid is known as one of, if not, the most successful soccer team in the world with their endless amounts of trophies, big name players, and endless amounts of money. Ever since the Champions League final in 2014, Madrid fans felt the full force of their club’s success and triumph. Since that year Madrid has racked up four Champions League trophies, three of those being successfully defended between 2016-2018, one Liga BBVA trophy, and four FIFA Club World Cup trophies. All of this was due to Real Madrid’s amazing offense led by Cristiano Ronaldo, and their solid defense captained by the 33-year-old Sergio Ramos. Since Zidane’s, and Ronaldo’s departures at the end of the 2017-2018 season, Real Madrid has suffered. The 2018-19 season was horrible for the Los Blancos, in which they conceded 46 goals in 38 games, which is the worst defensive record the club has put up since winning the 2013-14 Champions League, and finished 19 points behind Liga BBVA winners Barcelona, in third place.

Jump ahead to March of 2019, and Zinedine Zidane returns to coach the club for the remainder of the 2018-19 season. Over the summer he reinforces the team with big names for the 2019-20 season. Names such as Hazard, Jovic, and Rodriguez, while defensively, he brings on Militao and Mendy. Okay, so they have the same defenders they’ve had for the last few impressive years, and they’ve added on two up and coming defenders. Last season’s troubles will surely disappear, right? Not to mention, the big names they’ve added to their offense. Well, buckle up, because in classic Real Madrid fashion, it looks like it could go either way for Madrid.
Their two main objectives are La Liga BBVA and the Champions League. While they have all the tools to be successful up top, it’s their backline that could end up costing them both major trophies. Madrid cannot depend on blowing out their opposition, especially when they have games against Barcelona, and if they plan on progressing in the CL, they’ll inevitably play some of Europe’s best. In this case, defense wins games.

Across all sports, great defense mostly prevails as superior to offense. Some of Madrid’s most crucial games have come down to holding off on their winning result and preventing their opponents from scoring. Let’s take a look back at the 2015-16 season of the Champions League Quarter-Finals. Real Madrid took on German side, Wolfsburg, a relatively smaller team compared to Madrid.

Madrid played a typical game that would’ve seen them pick up a relatively easy victory, but luck would be on Wolfsburg’s side and the German squad would pick up the victory, 2-0. David vs. Goliath, Madrid surely should’ve won this game, right? Well, call it overconfidence, or call it bad luck, but Wolfsburg managed to pull out a big victory, that almost eliminated Madrid from the tournament.

They had to rely on a blowout in the second leg, 3-0, to secure a move to the semifinals.

Perhaps the fans also caused the later downfall of the squad post Zidane and Ronaldo. During last season’s abysmal performances, there were many boos from their own fans, and maybe that affected the team psychologically. Week in and week out, home games were less and less attended, and fans were grieving their displeasure at home games and through social media. Personally, I was frustrated with the team’s performance as well. After it was announced that Zidane would be returning to coach the squad, not even a year later, optimism returned to the Madrid fans, and while the rest of last season did not improve, hopes were still high for this new, 2019-20, season.

If this season has shown anything, it’s that progress is being made, slowly, but surely. The two noteworthy games from this season come from games against Sevilla and local city rivals, Atletico de Madrid. Madrid beat Sevilla in a 1-0 victory in which they looked strong defensively. Against Atletico, they held a 0-0 draw in what was an extremely tough game for both teams. Two impressively defended games, against two big teams. Great, that’s good progress.

Digging deeper into this, maybe it’s time for a defensive makeover, or easing in younger defensive talents into the squad. The top defenders on the team are entering their mid 30’s and have been with the club for over a decade. Madrid purchased Militao and Mendy, but don’t get enough playtime. One could even argue it’s not the defense where the problem is, it’s up top with the strikers, seeing as Madrid spent millions of euros on Eden Hazard, Luka Jovic, and Rodrygo. Not to mention the other world-class attackers Madrid can count on, and they are struggling to score goals. Hazard, who Madrid spent $114 million euros on, has only scored one goal this season and was out for the first few games of the season due to injury.

However, while the goals may not be coming from who we or the club officials may want it to come from, goals have been scored by Real Madrid this season, and a good amount of goals may I add. Many of the games Madrid has played this season could have been won by a better margin. Many losses could have been drawn if it was for better defending. Many times, Madrid would take a comfortable, 3-0, or 2-0 lead only to concede two goals and they’d have to go out and score another to assure a victory. The goals are coming, trust me, but Real Madrid’s dodgy defense could prove costly later on in the season if nothing is done about it.

Maybe giving the new defenders some game time is not a bad idea. They can learn from the veterans, and in return, the veterans will feel motivated in keeping up with the new guys. They can invest in their youth team and start thinking about the club’s future stars and success. Part of what makes Real Madrid so special is their comebacks, whether it’s coming back from a losing margin, or from disappointing moments in their history. They, may I say we, will come back. The club is learning from mistakes, mistakes they will eventually improve on. I’m sure now, after their first loss of the league season, they realize that it’s defensively where their main focus should be, and not going all out on attack hoping to score goals in hopes that their opponent won’t score as many as them.