Real Madrid: Three bold predictions for the rest of the season
Real Madrid are going to end up trophyless
I’m being honest here. Ever since Real Madrid lost to Cadiz and Shakhtar Donetsk and then defeated Barcelona in a space of a week, I understood that this is going to be a season where we are going to get to see many highs and lows. And as I expected, we got to see many such crisis phases followed by “Real Madrid are back!” phases. The season has been like that.
Real Madrid haven’t been impressive on the field, but they’ve managed to grind out results in few phases thanks to the immense quality in the Old-guard. But whenever that Old-guard wasn’t in the mood and weren’t having a great game, Real Madrid failed to win the game. There has never been a sense of confidence that Real Madrid are going to easily win this game, before kickoff, and every win has been a hard-earned victory.
Right now, Real Madrid are six points behind LaLiga leaders Atletico Madrid, and mathematically they aren’t out of the LaLiga race. And if Barcelona win their game against Huesca, they will be two points ahead of Real Madrid. There is a belief that Atletico will drop points and Real Madrid will get back into the title race by defeating Barcelona in the Clasico. But people are forgetting that this inconsistent Real Madrid side is highly prone to dropping points against any LaLiga team which parks the bus against them.
The recent signs haven’t been encouraging, particularly in the last three games against Real Sociedad, Atletico Madrid, and Elche, where the team had a poor performance and didn’t wake up until the final 30 minutes of the game. It’s going to be a great victory if Real Madrid manages to win their 35th LaLiga title this season, but I don’t see many chances of that happening this season. But still, never say never, and expect this team to fight till the end.
Coming to the Champions League, we have qualified for the quarter-finals after an impressive outing against Atalanta and knocking them out with an aggregate of 4-1. Real Madrid may or may not go beyond the quarter-finals, but this time Real Madrid aren’t favourites for the title, unfortunately. The thirteen-time European champions have been highly disappointing in the Champions League group stages and almost got into the Europa League after the group stages.
Winning the Champions League isn’t about form, but it needs a lot of quality in the squad along with incredible fighting spirit. Though Zidane’s team has that spirit to fight till the end, there’s no wrong in saying that this team doesn’t have much quality in their team compared to other top European teams, particularly in attack. That’s why the greatest club in the history of the competition isn’t considered the favourites this time. Though the second leg against Atalanta gives me hope, those Supercopa and Alcoyano memories are still fresh in my mind, which are making me say that we can’t trust this team at any stage.