Four reasons why Real Madrid will Retain the La Liga title

Campeones!

The wait is finally over: the season has begun. Thanks to the Euros and then the Olympics, the off-season wasn’t that long and boring – at least not for this writer – and now Football is back.

It’s been a quiet off-season for Real Madrid so far, in terms of incoming transfers, with only Luka Modric coming in from Spurs. Some players – Sergio Canales, Fernando Gago, Hamit Altintop & Nuri Sahin (on loan) – have left the Club, and others – Kaka and Ricardo Carvalho – are expected to leave soon. Two of our brightest young stars – Dani Carvajal and Joselu – have also left the Club and we Madridistas are hopeful that Real will exercise the buy-back clause for both of them after two years.

Anyways, the season has kicked off and we have, to the surprise of many people, not won a game yet even after playing 3 official matches so far. We drew against Valencia in our season opener and then lost to Barca (in the Super Cup) and Getafe. Despite that, this writer is confident that Real Madrid can retain the La Liga title and here’s why:

Champions’ mentality-

A mentality of a team is undoubtedly one of the most important aspects in Football. When Barca won the Liga in 2008-2009, they defended it successfully for the next 2 seasons. For all the talent our team had, we fell short. The closest we came was during the 2009-10 season when we bought Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso, Kaka and Karim Benzema, but ultimately fell short by just 3 points.

That season – which was Pellegrini’s only season as our manager – was a testament to the fact that Barca were a lot superior than us in terms of mental strength. They didn’t implode despite Real being within sniffing distance to them all the time.

In terms of talent, we were just as good as Barca – but they were superior mentally and those Clasico wins proved that.

However, last season we got over the mental barrier and beat Barca in the League marathon. Despite Barca and Real having equally strong teams in terms of talent, we were mentally superior to them and had that Champions mentality which was lacking the previous season – Mourinho deserves a lot of credit for imparting that mentality to our players.

And now that we have finally won the League, our players will have that mental edge over Barca players. We now have the mentality of the Champions. If you follow the English Premier League during the 2010-11 season, you’d know that Manchester United had won the league that year despite, having considerably weaker teams than the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal.

Man United even reached the final of the Champions League that year. This just goes to show what a champions’ mentality can do to a team – and it’d do wonders for us this season, too.

Squad depth better than Barca’s-

This was a very crucial factor last season. Mourinho’s use of Benzema and Higuain and Barca’s lack of depth both made significant contributions to our title triumph last season.

During Ferbruary-March, Barca dropped quite a few points – mainly because Iniesta & Xavi looked jaded and Puyol was out injured. With no players good enough to replace them when they need some rest or when they were injured; Barca had to pay the price.

The same is the case this season as Barca have just signed 2 players, so far, in Alex Song – a defensive midfielder who is a great aerial-ball passer; but is in no way a direct replacement to Xavi or Iniesta – and Jordi Alba, a left full-back/winger.

Tito, like his predecessor Guardiola, looks reluctant on signing a center-back – a position in which Barca have just 2 recognised players; Puyol and Pique. Montoya was set to feature more this season, but he is now injured. Mascherano and Busquets do a good job when they play at center-back, but when they play there, Barca’s options in midfield reduces significantly.

Also, Barca do not have an out-and-out striker apart from David Villa. Yes, Barca play a false-9 system where they don’t need a pure striker, but if any of you read my Camp Nou League Clasico’s review of last season – where we won 2-1 – you’d notice that all Barca lacked in that game was a pure-striker (David Villa was out injured) and that cost them the game.

Barca faced a lot of similar scenarios last season, the 2 legged Champions League tie against Chelsea being the best example. Barca couldn’t unlock Chelsea’s defense, who also got lucky at times, with Messi being man-marked and closed down faster than dogs leap on a bone. They needed a pure-striker whose movements could confuse Chelsea’s defenders, but there weren’t any.

MADRID, SPAIN – AUGUST 27: Luka Modric holds his son and poses with his wife Vanja Bosnic and his parents

We have two great strikers in Benzema and Higuain, two excellent back ups for Xabi Alonso in Modric and Granero, a good back-up for Sami Khedira in Lass Diarra, 2 great replacements for Ozil in Kaka (who may leave) and Modric, a superb back-up for Di Maria in Callejon, a brilliant Varane as back-up to Pepe & Ramos, and two fantastic left-backs in Marcelo and Coentrao. The only position where we could strengthen is right-back, but other than that, we have some amazing strength in depth which also allows Mou to use many different systems.

Squad depth comes into play late in the season – after February when the pressure of playing 2 games a week takes its toll on players’ bodies. That’s when a thin squad suffers a lot and if there are injuries, then matters just get worse.

Mou’s third season in charge; better team chemistry-

The last manager to oversee Real Madrid for three consecutive seasons was none other than Vicente Del Bosque. The result? Two La Liga titles and two Champions League titles. This is the kind of stability which brings success to a Club. It is of no wonder that we didn’t win the Champions League since Del Bosque left.

But now, we have that stability with Mourinho in charge. Mourinho’s personality has made Perez in awe of him, so much so that it doesn’t look like Perez would sack Mourinho even if we have a bad season.

Stability is the key. Whether it is in relationships or Football Clubs – there must be stability if success is what you want. It’s been a little over 2 years of Mourinho’s charge at Real Madrid. The players know each other well, they know Mou well, they know his tactics well, and they know what Mou expects of them.

Even though we lost against Getafe, there was this one moment – Oezil hitting the cross-bar from 3 yards out in an empty net, to be precise – which made fans go ‘wow!’. That moment was when Oezil and Cristiano exchanged passes to let the former go clean through on goal. These movements don’t come after just 2-3 training sessions – these are the results of the hard-work the team are doing in the last 2 years. The understanding between players have improved and that’s why such beautiful link-up plays are possible.

The fact that we just signed one player in this transfer window shows that our whole team is on the same wavelength and signing many players might just disrupt that. We may look a little rusty now, but it won’t take long when the players are back to full match fitness and we see them do magic.

The Cristiano Ronaldo factor-

Our best player. The man who scored 46 goals for us in the League last season. The man who showed his thighs after scoring a 30 yarder against Osasuna. The man who played the biggest role in our League triumph last season.

The man who we know as Cristiano Ronaldo.

27 years old now, and surely at his peak, Cristiano is reaching a phase where we might see the ultimate best of him. He hasn’t really picked up his form yet, but it just takes him a moment to turn the game on its head. And once he starts scoring, he won’t stop.

Ruud van Nistelrooy once said to a young Gonzalo Higuain, “goals are like ketchup; sometimes as much as you try, they don’t come out, and then they come all of a sudden.” And we all know how much ketchup falls when Cristiano starts scoring. That is the Cristiano Ronaldo factor, which takes away the sleep of opposition defenders before match-days.

Cristiano was key to our first Copa Del Rey title since 1993 – he scored in the final against Barca. Cristiano was key to our League triumph last season – he scored 46 goals in La Liga. And if we are to win the Champions League – La Decima – then Cristiano Ronaldo must be the key once again. And if Cristiano Ronaldo does indeed repeat what he did last season, then Real Madrid will almost certainly retain the League title.

Two rounds of La Liga are over and 36 rounds are still left. We might be trailing Barca by five points now, we might be winless so far this season, but the season is far from over, and a win against Barca to win the Super Cup could just be the perfect way to kick-start our season.

Hala Madrid!