Real Madrid: The five biggest questions going into 2021
Will Real Madrid win La Liga again?
Every single question we ask about Real Madrid all points to the ultimate questions, which is winning trophies. Los Blancos are here to “catch them all”, so to speak. As Jose Mourinho once said, at Real Madrid, if you are in second place, you are the leader of the losers. And Real, by their standards, were holding the proverbial “L” in 2018-2019 before Zinedine Zidane straightened the squad out last season, en route to a 34th league title.
Zidane should expect nothing less than a 35th title from this team. They have the quality and the intangibles to win the title. There are depth questions, which have reared their ugly head multiple times this season. I won’t jinx it, but you can scarcely name a player who has not been injured or ill during the 2020-2021 season – and we are only 15 Matchdays in!
Real Madrid have suffered. They have played “finals”. We may not even be halfway into the league campaign, but Real already feel like a team that has weathered the storm of a full season, such is the grueling nature of the 2020-2021 season calendar with back-to-back-to-back-to-back matches.
Los Blancos are capable of winning the title. For me, that is not even a question. So here is the real question within the question up top: Can they make up the difference on Atletico Madrid?
Let’s look at the table, because that’s what matters – not our hypotheticals of who is better after one home derby win. The table says Real and Atleti are tied on points with 32. But Atelti have a superior goal differential by +8. More importantly, since goal differential does not usually decide the title, Atleti have two games in hand. So they may literally be tied, but, effectively, Atelti are still in the lead.
Real Madrid, at their best, are the better team. Home or not, they wiped Los Rojiblancos off the pitch entirely in December. But the winners of the league must be consistent and last the full season. That is the challenge for Los Blancos.