Real Madrid: The top 5 matches of the 2010’s

Ranking the best Real Madrid games of the 2010’s.

The season has restarted after the pandemic break and it doesn’t look like we’ll see fans in the stadium anytime soon. Real Madrid is currently first in the table just 2 points ahead of Barcelona and has an uphill task to get past Manchester City in the Champions League after a first-leg home defeat to Pep Guardiola’s side.

The start of the new decade has been topsy turvy so far as Real Madrid started the year off well with the Spanish Super Cup trophy but faltered in February throwing away their lead to Barcelona despite the El Clasico win.

The previous decade was full of glory for Real Madrid and rarely any club can boast of winning four Champions leagues in a decade – and more so four in five years. I am taking a look back at the five best games of the decade. The games have been judged on the basis of importance in terms of the club’s history, the importance of the game itself, and of course how exciting the games were. The games have been ranked in chronological order.

1. Barcelona Vs Real Madrid 0-1 (Copa Del Rey Final 2011)

This game had it all the grit, the commitment and the never die attitude from the players. Jose Mourinho’s first season at Real Madrid and the team amassed 92 points in the league. In any league in the world that is easily good enough to win the league title but the Portuguese manager was up against this demonic Barcelona side managed by none other than his biggest foe Pep Guardiola.

Real Madrid already had a disadvantage mentally playing against Barcelona after the 5-0 humiliation earlier in the season and on top of not winning their arch-rivals for over two years including a 6-2 thrashing at the Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid was knocked out of Champions League in the semis by Guardiola’s side with a lot of controversial decisions going the Catalan side’s way.

Earlier in the season, Real Madrid’s confidence was shattered as Barcelona thrashed Real Madrid 5-0 in an ill-tempered game marked by a lot of fights and cards. Jerzy Dudek former Real Madrid goalkeeper explains exactly what Mourinho was all about in his interview with Metro:

"“After the match in the locker room, there was total chaos, some of us were crying, some were quarreling, some were looking at the floor. Then Mourinho came in. He knew how bad it was, but he looked at us and said: ‘I know this hurts you. Perhaps for most of you, it is the worst loss of your entire career. Tomorrow, I will give you the day off, but do not stay in your house. Go with your families, children, or friends for a walk around the city. Let people see that you can overcome this.'”"

This never die attitude was instilled by Mourinho in his side as he was tired of losing out to Pep Guardiola so was the team. This is the same season you see that famous gif of Ronaldo getting trapped in that Guardiola triangle got famous. Cristiano Ronaldo’s mentality in any situation is unmatched and you see him trying to press the opposition all alone with no help from the teammates and you can see his frustration at the end of the clip when none of the teammates follow the cue.

Mourinho had an uphill job to revive this team mentally while playing against their arch-rivals and he did just that. Mourinho deployed Pepe as a defensive midfielder to contain Leo Messi’s threat in the attack with Mesut Ozil and Angel Di Maria partnering Cristiano Ronaldo in the attack. Mourinho started an all defensive midfield of Sami Khedira and Xabi Alonso it was expected that Real Madrid will lack creativity in the final third but Ozil had other ideas. Ozil created a plethora of chances in the first half but Madrid failed to capitalize as Cristiano and Pepe missed some good chances.

The game wore on as both teams missed some good opportunities to go ahead and Iker was forced into a few good saves. Real Madrid was all over Barcelona and Mourinho’s system was totally rattling the Catalans. The breakthrough came finally in extra time when Marcelo and Di Maria played a quick one-two down the left wing with Ronaldo making a darting run into the box to score the header. It was a huge huge victory for Real Madrid not in terms of the trophy but the confidence and mojo it brought with it. Los Blancos finally believed that they can compete with their Catalan counterparts and for me, this win was a huge turning point for Real Madrid for what was to come in the future.