Real Madrid: 5 long-running problems the club must address this year

The lack of goals

This has to be listed first, because it is the biggest problem that hinders Real Madrid’s success. If you want to be the best team in Europe, you have to score. And you can’t just score against free-flowing teams or this kind of team or under these conditions: you have to be able to create and put away chances consistently. That’s what makes a great team great, and Real’s struggles in front of goal are the biggest reason why we cannot, in good conscience, call this current squad “great”.

Karim Benzema is a world-class striker. I have nothing but kind words to say about a player who is on pace to score more than 20 goals in a season for the third straight year and is the clear leader of the line both in terms of his goals and assists.

But I do not have many kind words to spare for the rest of the forwards at this point. Don’t get me wrong, I like all of them. I am, however, sick of this one word. “Potential”. Real Madrid does not care about “potential”, unless you are being loaned out or are deep on the squad bench. If you are starting games or playing significant minutes for Real Madrid, you need to produce. Two or three goals from a forward at this club is simply not cutting it, and there are far too many players in this situation who don’t show up to play every game.

Los Blancos are in a tough situation, because they need to pay premium for the kind of forward who is going to help them. And that forward is specifically Kylian Mbappe, with Mohamed Salah as an acceptable alternative. Real Madrid need to find some way to bring in a top-scoring forward. Rodrygo Goes isn’t there yet. Eden Hazard is class but cannot be counted on at this stage due to recurring injuries. Vinicius Junior does not have the skill-set to be a goal-scoring forward. Florentino Perez needs to find a solution – and fast.