Five reasons Real Madrid is struggling

Injuries

Injuries can often make or break a season and Real Madrid haven’t been lucky with them so far. Marcelo, Isco, and Dani Carvajal have all taken prolonged spells on the sidelines.

Marcelo and Carvajal have been particularly big losses and Madrid has missed their attacking contribution in the last four games. Marcelo has the second most key passes per 90 minutes for Real Madrid so far this season with Carvajal sitting seventh in that metric.

Isco didn’t start the season too well, but seemed to be coming into form before he was struck down by appendicitis. The Spanish playmaker has the fourth most key passes per 90 minutes for Madrid and is crucial to Julen Lopetegui’s system when it comes to breaking down deep sitting defenses.

As concerning as the injuries themselves are, its even more worrying that the last two players to return from injury have relapsed. Dani Carvajal picked up another injury midweek against CSKA Moscow having just recovered from one. Gareth Bale asked to come off in the latter stages of the Alavés match due to issues with his hamstrings.

He was forced off at half time of the Madrid Derby due to a similar issue. These relapses must be laid at the feet of Julen Lopetegui and his medical team; it is their joint responsibility to assess the fitness of players returning from injury and it’s unacceptable that they have so far gambled the fitness of two of the team’s key cogs.

Compounded with the loss of Ronaldo, there is a severe lack of creativity in the current Madrid squad and though management have done their best to cover these positions, it is near impossible to find like for like backups for these players.