Can Real Madrid play without Ronaldo the way Barcelona have played without Messi?

Barcelona have survived without their record goalscorer, can Real Madrid do the same?

When Lionel Messi injured his knee in September and Barcelona prepared to spend 8 weeks with the Argentine watching from the sidelines, many Barca fans were concerned about how their team would fare in the absence of the club talisman. Two drab games on the trot followed and the concerns grew deeper.

However, after drubbing Real Madrid 4-0 at the Bernabeu, it became apparent that Barca are no longer reliant on Messi – at least not in the way they used to be. Both Luis Suarez and Neymar have stepped up and taken up the responsibility on their more-than-able shoulders to carry Barca forward when their main man isn’t playing.

How Barcelona coped without Messi

Surprisingly, the stats are in favour of a Barca side without Messi. Without the Argentine, the Blaugranas have an 89% win ratio, which falls down to 71% with him in the team. However, to be fair to La Pulga, Barca really haven’t played many games without him, so the stat isn’t really well balanced.

But a closer look at the numbers suggest that Barca do better without him in every field – they score more and concede less and even create more chances. In fact, Ivan Rakitic, Neymar and Luis Suarez have more shots without having to feed Messi.

All these stats though – including 2.3 points with him and 2.8 without – are over a period of 45 games without him and 270 games with him. So clearly, it isn’t a fair base to judge and claim that Barcelona are better without their main man.

No Messi? No problem!

A fair claim, however, would be that Barcelona cope really well without their no.10, which isn’t anything surprising considering that they spent over a €170 million combined on Neymar and Luis Suarez. The duo currently lead the goalscoring charts with 14 and 12 league goals respectively.

How Real Madrid perform without Cristiano Ronaldo

A quick look at the numbers would reveal Real Madrid’s lack of goals without Ronaldo in the playing XI, which is obvious considering he is their record goalscorer. In fact, Real Madrid have lost only a few games when his name is on the scoresheet.

However, with Ronaldo now in his 30s and going through an erratic patch of form with the arrival of Rafa Benitez, there is a feeling among some that from a tactical viewpoint, the Blancos could well indeed be a better bunch without the Portuguese forward.

Cristiano Ronaldo has struggled for consistency at Real Madrid this season

Neither of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and the former United star track back as much to help out the defence. James Rodriguez and Isco do their fair share of the defensive work, but it is not enough against the bigger teams.

Benzema’s absence from the team has only confirmed his importance to the system. Without him, both the Bale and Ronaldo look like a shadow of themselves and the cooperation level is nowhere near to be labeled as dangerous.

Bale will benefit the most from Ronaldo’s absence

Then there is the curious case of Bale. If one looks at only his club performances, then he is definitely not someone you would pay even half of the £86m that the Whites paid for him. However, when you see him in a Wales jersey, an entirely different story is depicted.

His outings with his national team has left fans in a state of ambivalence with the most common verdict being that he should be played on the left instead of the centre. And we all know who has held that position and made it his own in the past few seasons.

With everything considered, the most likely scenario without Ronaldo would consist of a frontline of Bale, James and Benzema. With each player in their best position, the outcome would be productive – at least on paper.

Ronaldo’s absence would unlock Gareth Bale’s true potential

For one, Benitez could field all three of James, Modric and Kroos without compensating the bite in midfield thanks to Casemiro’s presence. The Brazilian has been rock solid whenever he took the pitch and Madrid have always appeared a more balanced team with him guarding the defence.

James Rodriguez’s silky dribbling means that he can squeeze himself in from the right, something which Bale fails to do. The former Spurs man’s blazing speed combined with an eye for goal would torment the right-backs of any opposition team.

Bale has always been at his bloody best whenever he has space to run into. His dribbling style is best suited for the left wing as he knocks the ball past the opposition, something he can do a lot from the left.

And what needs to be said of Benzema? Madrid’s attack looks a lot less cohesive without him and his presence in the middle would work as a perfect bridge for Bale and James.

Without the Portuguese captain, however, the goal-threat would go down by a huge margin, but that’s about it since Ronaldo is no longer a threat from outside the box. Within the box, though, there is not another player who is better than him and he makes that apparent in every game.

Can Benitez’s system succeed without Ronaldo?

Considering how Benitez likes his team to be solid and well-disciplined defensively, Ronaldo’s absence could actually work. In fact, it could be just the tonic that is needed in order to make a perfectly working and ruthless system with a strong rearguard.

Would Rafa Benitez’s Real Madrid function better without Ronaldo?

As we have seen many times this season, the Galacticos play a 4-4-2 when without the ball with Ronaldo and Benzema up top and Bale doing the defensive share of his work. Without Ronaldo, Bale would be beside Benzema and James would be given the duty to guard the right-back, something he is more accustomed to than Bale.

Even though this is all a hypothesis, one can almost sense something different with Benitez’s Real. It almost feels like Ronaldo is an added part to the machine – a part which makes the machine look shinier but doesn’t really suit the mechanism. And his performances have revealed nothing but.

So it seems highly plausible that Benitez’s Madrid would function just as well as Barcelona do without Messi. This is not to say that Ronaldo should be dropped, but his absence wouldn’t really hurt the club as much as it used to during the eras of Manuel Pellegrini, Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti.

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