Real Madrid: The 5 biggest surprises of the 2020-2021 season

Just how horrendous Real Madrid’s attack was

I think we all knew that without any signings, Real Madrid were going to have a rough season in front of goal. They were poor in the attack in 2019-2020, as Karim Benzema carried them and Sergio Ramos had to do a lot of lifting to support Real from a goal-scoring perspective.

But Real sunk to new lows offensively in 2020-2021 when, in theory, they should have improved. Marco Asensio was back to health after a productive summer, Rodrygo Goes and Vinicius Junior were a year older, Luka Jovic had a year under his belt, and Martin Odegaard was returning.

But none of those players had a truly productive season for Madrid, though Rodrygo had his moments as a creator.

Asensio was the biggest disappointment, ghosting in most matches. Vinicius had bright moments but was still too wasteful in the final third. Odegaard and Jovic were loaned in the winter. And the X-Factor, Eden Hazard, was unable to have a sustained period of health and success.

The result was another anemic attack and a total Karim carry-job. But not even his 30 goals could lift Real Madrid to the Champions League Final and the LaLiga title. Real’s woes in front of goal were most typified by how poorly the backups played against Alcoyano, getting Los Blancos knocked out of the Copa del Rey in their very first game.

We knew Real would suffer offensively last season, but few of us anticipated this embarrassing of a performance and such little progression or contributions from the youngsters and backups alike.