With Real Madrid now sixteen points behind FC Barcelona in the race for the La Liga title, and with PSG facing Madrid next in the Champions League, the Copa del Rey is Real Madrid’s best shot at silverware this season.
Real Madrid had a historic season in 2016-2017. For the first time in the Club’s history, Real Madrid won five trophies in a calendar year – UEFA Super Cup, La Liga, Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, and the Spanish Super Cup. Real Madrid also became the first team in the history of the modern Champions League to win back-to-back titles.
But now, Real Madrid stand on the precipice of disaster. Just a few months after throttling FC Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final, Real Madrid find themselves sixteen points behind the league leaders, with the race for the La Liga title basically done and dusted in the first week of January.
And as if that weren’t bad enough, Real Madrid’s next opponent in the Champions League is none other than PSG.
And we gotta play PSG soon?! pic.twitter.com/paorGttMBH
— The Real Champs (@TheRealChampsFS) January 7, 2018
Yeah, THAT PSG. You know, the ones who just signed Neymar AND Kylian Mbappé. The same PSG who are currently scoring goals at will. The same PSG who have been desiring nothing but a Champions League victory for years, only to be cruelly by an outrageous FC Barcelona comeback and an embarrassing collapse last season.
The very same PSG that engaged in this gruesome act of violence against Rennes:
One of the best counter-attacks you will see...
— GOAL (@goal) January 8, 2018
Neymar and Kylian Mbappe were heavily involved as PSG scored a beautiful team goal which started from a Rennes corner. 👏 pic.twitter.com/7zrCloOl01
Madrid are currently having a hard time stopping the likes of Celta Vigo from cutting through the midfield like a hot knife through butter. No diss intended to Iago Aspas & Co., but if Celta Vigo can dismantle Real Madrid on the counter, I have no idea what Los Blancos plan to do against a PSG team that can do THAT at will.
Real Madrid play PSG on February 14. That means Zinedine Zidane has just over a month to get his house in order, and to get Real Madrid playing something other than disasterball. If he doesn’t, Los Blancos could soon find themselves eliminated from the Champions League round of 16.
Let’s just say, I’m not entirely optimistic that Madrid is going to get things figured out by then. Even if Real Madrid do manage to eke through against PSG, teams like Juventus, Bayern Munich, and the now-imperious Manchester City would loom large on the horizon. Winning the Champions league twice in a row was difficult. Winning it three times in a row might be near impossible. With that kind of mountain to climb, the Copa del Rey is increasingly looking like Real Madrid’s best shot of silverware this season.
The Copa del Rey is the one trophy Zidane has yet to win as a Madrid manager. Zidane’s men were dumped out of the Copa del Rey last season by none other than Celta Vigo. This season, Zidane will be hoping that his team can take it all the way to the end in this competition.
Madrid face off against Numancia in the second leg of their Copa del Rey matchup on Wednesday. Madrid take a comfortable 3-0 away goal aggregate lead into the second leg. That should be enough to see Madrid through.
Usually, the Copa del Rey is the last priority for La Liga’s giants. Winning the tournament is nice, but it’s largely seen as a distraction from the Champions League and the domestic league trophy. But for Zidane, the Copa del Rey might be his last big chance at silverware, and his last chance to save his job.
Next: Will Eden Hazard finally make his move to Real Madrid?