An era of dominance: How Madrid can sustain this!

So Real Madrid won the La Liga, halting one of the best teams on the planet – the brilliant Barcelona. It was not an easy job stopping the Blaugrana, who were in such fine momentum. After their humbling at Camp Nou by their arch-rivals, Los Blancos, the Catalan side completely lost their way. They were stopped in the Champions League as well, by a resilient Chelsea team, who played the typical park-the-bus football! In the other semifinal. Madrid lost on penalties to Bayern, blowing away a 2-0 lead. With both Spanish giants knocked out of the glamorous tournament, the losses at UCL hit Barca more than Real, as the latter had already clinched the league with their victory at Barcelona, leaving them without any silverware.

Real Madrid has to ensure that it’s their time now, not replicate mistakes which their rivals made. On seeing the present Barcelona side, people heaped praises, and were dead certain that this team would go on to dominate Europe for many years to come. With Xavi, Iniesta and the Messi in the team, they’ve definitely dominated, but for a short period. What will Barca do without the services of these veterans? The answer is simple: without Xavi or Iniesta, they look like any other run of the mill side. They don’t have a strong bench and lack depth in their squad. They don’t have adequate quality at defensive positions.

To sustain their team’s achievements, the Catalans should’ve signed a top-notch centre back, a pacey left back and an imaginative midfielder. The absence of Pique and Puyol occasionally proved to be too costly. Barca skipper Carles Puyol suffered minor knocks all through the season, which prevented him from making it to the playing XI. When he was available, Pep played him as left back in several matches due to Abidal’s delicate health troubles, while Mascherano played as a centre back. To make matters shoddier, gossip columns were buzzing about an altercation between Pique and Guardiola. The rumor-mills further hinted that the Blaugrana coach wasn’t thrilled with Pique’s extracurricular activities with superstar girlfriend Shakira. Barca’s only practical signing of the season was in the form of Chilean centre-forward Alexis Sanchez. Otherwise, this is a season Barcelona president Sandro Rossell would like to forget, with the Catalunya side only managing to win the Copa del Rey.

Although Jose Mourinho has done a creditable job in strengthening Madrid, players like Nuri Sahin, Kaka, Albiol, Coentrao were often on the bench. There are positions in Jose Mourinho’s Galacticos system which needs to be fortified in order for Real Madrid to rule over Europe for a long period.

Players like Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo, two super-versatile players, haven’t played in their original positions for the past 2 seasons. Ramos has played as a right back all these years, but as soon as Jose Mourinho took over the reins, Ramos has been playing as a centre back and has excelled. But there have been a few notorious tackles that have been made by the Spaniard, including the Champions League semifinals against Bayern, where Pepe and Ramos fouled Gomes inside the penalty-area, which cost them the match. Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the greatest players of his era, has been in devastating form and feared by all opponents. While playing on the right flank, the world witnessed this youngster’s heroics during his 7-year spell at Manchester United, under the tutelage of Sir Alex Ferguson. At Mourinho’s Madrid, CR7 is playing on the left wing, very rarely switching to the right.

So to begin with, Madrid must be in the market to purchase a world class centre back. Candidates who can fulfill this vacant spot are Manchester United leader Nemanja Vidic (who has been in awe-inspiring form for the past 3 seasons), AC Milan captain Thiago Silva (dubbed as the greatest defender of this era) and Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic. I would fancy Thiago Silva, because of his well-built, lean physique which makes him quicker on the ball. This would suit Madrid’s style of play. One of the reasons why the capital club can also go for him, is because Barcelona, have been vying for his signature for a long time but have failed so far. So we can have Thiago Silva and Pepe as the two centre backs. Both of them are world class stoppers, having the knack of moving the ball forward swiftly. Meanwhile, Sergio Ramos will play at his original right back position, whereas Marcelo and Xabi Alonso will remain as the left back and defensive midfielder respectively.

Cristiano will play on the right wing with Di-Maria on the left. Both of them can pepper the strikers with delicious crosses and also stifle the opponent by making incisive, razor-sharp runs in the penalty region. They are both lethal finishers as well. Whilst the Portuguese and the Argentine are operating at the wings, Ozil will orchestrate the midfield area as an attacking midfielder, frequently teaming up with Xabi Alonso and making run-ins and provide deadly through-balls to feed the two forwards. While Benzema retains his position as the first striker, Madrid have been in the market for another striker for a long time (even though they have El Pipito). While the deal for Santos starlet Neymar has collapsed, they have long been admirers of Kun Aguero, currently playing for Manchester City. A deal for the Argentine is likely to happen this summer. Maradona has even advised his son-in-law publicly to make a move to Santiago Bernabeu, in order to boost his career.

Therefore Aguero teaming up with Benzema, Ozil and Ronaldo, is nothing short of a spectacle. With this line-up, Madrid’s bench will consist of great players like Khedira, Kaka, Sahin, Granero, Higuain, Callejon, Varane, to name a few. This in turn, would make them a very tough team to beat. Hala Madrid.