Carlo Ancelotti helped Real Madrid return to the summit of world football in the 2020s by adding a second and third Champions League trophy to his career ledger at the club, but somewhere along the way over the last couple of seasons, Real lost something very important that Zinedine Zidane had instilled in them during their peak of the three peat era and then built on even more in his second stint when he came back to win the 2019/20 La Liga season.
Real Madrid have lost their grit and ability to win ugly. Every champion needs to have that, and while Real did display this grit under Ancelotti during the 2021/22 Champions League knockouts, including with their 1-0 win over Liverpool in the Final, most of those wins were crazy ones with last second goals and high scoring. And that 1-0 win over Liverpool was moreso down to Thibaut Courtois' magic than anything else.
Real Madrid have lost their sturdiness
Zidane elevated a subpar Real Madrid squad in 2019/20 to a La Liga title over Lionel Messi's Barcelona because of the organization in midfield and defense, as well as the ability to win professionally despite literally only having one top attacking player in Karim Benzema - their two next best goal scoring threats that season were literally Sergio Ramos and Casemiro, defensive players.
Jose Mourinho is a master at setting his teams up to win ugly when they need to and grind out the 1-0 wins down the stretch against stingy opponents like Zinedine Zidane did. Especially last season under Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa, Real Madrid were hemorraging points against inferior opponents while also leaking far too much defensively in the big games, which has increasingly become a problem since Kylian Mbappe's arrival against the likes of Barcelona or the big clubs in the Champions League like Arsenal, Liverpool, and Bayern Munich.
Real Madrid need to be able to put points on the board and score goal with a high flying style when they have the attacking trio that they do right now, but they also need to be able to win those defensive battles or not blow games and hold onto close 1-0 or 2-1 leads. Zidane gave them that art, Real Madrid have lost their way, and now Jose must reinstill that professionalism, defensive resiliency, and tactical stability, because these are the kinds of games that win you titles, especially league titles against a strong Barcelona.
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