From five titles in 2017 to staring zero in the face in 2018, Real Madrid is in the midst of a monumental fall from grace. Wednesday’s Copa Del Rey quarterfinal exit sums up what has been a horrible season all around for Los Blancos.
Taking a 1-0 aggregate lead into the second leg at home, many Real Madrid fans and critics would assume the Royal Whites could hold their own at the Santiago Bernabéu against mid-table side Leganes.
As we saw yet again, a discombobulated defense and no go-to goalscorers up front proved that the 2017/2018 season is well and truly over with still a little over three months to play. While I think fans were confident carrying a goal lead into the second leg, this was not a shocking upset.
Like a broken record, Real has faltered at home against much weaker opponents, not only in the Copa Del Rey, but in the league as well. Coming into Wednesday’s match, Madrid had led in the round of 32 and the round of 16 against lower-league teams.
Like we saw against Leganes, somehow, Madrid conceded two goals and flubbed up what seemed to be an easy road to the semifinal of the domestic competition. City rival’s Atletico Madrid got embarrassed by mediocre Sevilla Tuesday, leaving Sevilla, Valencia, and the second leg match between FC Barcelona and Espanyol in the Camp Nou Thursday as the teams still in the competition.
Barca struggled mightily on the road against cross-city rival’s Espanyol in the first leg falling 1-0 but are expected to get an easy win at home. That means the final four will consist of Barca, Valencia, Sevilla, and Leganes; the weakest side still in the competition.
Real Madrid was handed a gift drawing the small club from southern Madrid, yet they couldn’t hold onto the lead?
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This match is the culmination of so many things the club has messed up in a short time.
I don’t want to heap the blame on Zinedine Zidane, but there is no question he is a contributing factor to the struggles. Why would he not include Gareth Bale or Ronaldo on the bench going into the second leg? Why would the club not sign a better backup striker than Borja Mayoral during the summer or in the first three and a half weeks of this month?
The questions are not only mind-numbing but unanswerable.
I touched on this in my article over the weekend, saying that it seemed the players had basically given up on chasing league leader Barcelona at the halfway point. I said it then and I will say it again, not only is this team losing in idiotic ways, they are plain and simple not fun to watch anymore!
Zizou’s hard-headedness and likely some cockiness from the players coming into the season has led to this point. Out of the Copa Del Rey, fourth in the league table fighting for the last Champions League, and a beatdown on the horizon in the Champions League round of 16 against PSG.
The thing that is the most frustrating about this situation the club is currently in is that they have no business playing like this. The money backing them, the manager’s proven ability to win, and the talent already in the squad is much, much better than fourth place in Spain.
Next: Real Madrid knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Leganes – How it happened
While Zidane continues to emphasize that no change is needed to the squad, change might be, rather, needs to be implemented. Whether that comes from Zizou himself making moves in the transfer market or president Florentino Perez pulling the plug on the Frenchman, something has to give.
A good quote to sum up the situation comes from author C. Joybell C. which says, “The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed.”
This team still has a lot to learn going forward.