Over the last few years, Real Madrid have been going through a major transition with their squad. A number of the key veteran players of the old generation, who led Real to copious amounts of success, have departed the club for the next step of their careers and have seen the new younger generation come in and fill their place.
While the new players who have been brought in, like Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, Aurelien Tchouameni, and Alvaro Carreras, are extremely talented players, the lack of veteran experience in the squad can definitely be felt on the pitch.
This lack of serious veteran experience and leadership in the squad is something that Real Madrid fans were worried about heading into the season, and it seems they may have a point. Not only are fans pointing out the lack of a true leader in the team, one of Real Madrid's greatest ever players is also speaking, pointing out the major issue with Real Madrid this season.
Karim Benzema hit the nail on the head on Real Madrid's big flaw
While speaking in an in-depth interview with AS, the Frenchman spoke at length about his former club and one of the questions was "what is the current Real Madrid team lacking?" and he answered with what many Real Madrid fans have long been saying: a leader.
Benzema went on to describe what he thinks is lacking with the new stars of Real Madrid, simply saying they don't talk to each other enough like the old generation of players:
"I think Vinicius, Mbappé, Rodrygo (even though he doesn't play much), Bellingham… they need to talk. One is there to score goals, another to provide assists. We're not going to tell Bellingham to score goals because that's Mbappé's job; nor are we going to tell him to be the number 10 because that's Bellingham's role. They need to talk. "Karim Benzema
This echoes what fans have been saying for quite some time. While yes, Real Madrid is a team filled with stars, the most important part of being a team is actually playing as a team and communicating with one another on the pitch, and that seems to be something that doesn't come with this new generation of players.
In the era under Zinedine Zidane, players like Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, Marcelo and Cristiano Ronaldo, all of whom are big stars with their own egos, were still always communicating with each other, which played a huge part in all the success they achieved.
There are so many names in the squad who have what it takes to step up to be the leader of the team, but we still have yet to see someone step up and take the reigns to be the leader that the team is desperately lacking.