UEFA Champions League 2016/17: Napoli provide the kind of test Real Madrid must pass to make history

The biggest mystery in European football, without a doubt, is how no one has been able to retain the UEFA Champions League in its current format. There is a definite sense of irony with that statistic, too, because in the days of the European Cup, before the competition’s re-brand in 1992, successfully defending the title was a regular occurrence.

Just two years before the change, AC Milan retained their title and Real Madrid won it for the first five years of its existence, between 1955 and 1960. Los Blancos were the undisputed kings of Europe and the world’s biggest club. The fact they have never really shaken either tag tells a story in itself.

Clubs that size rarely go anytime without glory in some form, but that era really stood out. Alfredo dI Stefano – known as the Don – Ferenc Puskas and Francisco Gento spearheaded perhaps the most iconic football team of all time.

Fast-forward to 2017 and Real Madrid are still in the same place on the footballing pyramid. One again, they are European champions, but the sense of ownership they had on the trophy simply isn’t there. If they can make history this year, it will be their third title in four years and a record twelfth overall.

Victories in 2014 and 2016 were made all the sweeter by the opposition they put to the sword, city rivals Atletico Madrid. Crucially, though, they had to wait 12 years for that relief; the desire to win soon became an obsession. It even got to the point where the identity that had made them so great felt lost.

Rivalry spreads to Europe

In the time Real Madrid struggled in the competition that once felt like their own, they were made to watch on in envy as eternal rivals Barcelona rose to prominence. In the last decade, a domestic Catalan dynasty has transferred onto the continent, with Champions League victories in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2015.

Led by Lionel Messi, an Argentine superstar who has completely rewritten the book on playing football, there have been many debates as to whether that Barça team is the greatest ever, rivalling the Di Stefano era at the Santiago Bernabeu. Even they have never won the Champions League twice in a row.

Real’s own star, Cristiano Ronaldo, on the other hand, has become one of the greatest leaders in the game and it is he who the hopes of more success hinge on. Ronaldo and Messi have defined football in recent years, battling for both team and individual awards. He may have just turned 32, but he continues to defy age and was voted the FIFA Best Player of 2016.

A new age

Under the stewardship of Zidane, a relative novice as a coach but a legendary player, Real Madrid are on the surge to make history. Zidane took over from Rafael Benitez in January 2016, leading them to their eleventh European title just five months later. Not only is defending that title a genuine possibility this season, but Zidane is also guiding Real towards a first La Liga title for four years.

All this just 14 years on from the Frenchman scoring one of the great Champions League final goals to secure the club’s ninth title against Bayer Leverkusen at Hampden Park, Glasgow.

Perhaps an issue with the current structure of the Champions League is how predictable it has become. Only four teams have won the competition since 2011, with Real and Barcelona each taking two titles and Chelsea and Bayern Munich winning the others. The same teams make it to the semi-finals more often than not, and while the cream will always rise to the top, the spread of success was much wider in prior years.

A change to the group seedings this year has made a real impact already, so much so that the great Real Madrid, the European champions, lost out on top spot in their group to Borussia Dortmund.

The challenge of Napoli

Italian side Napoli are the next hurdle to overcome if Los Blancos are to make history. When considering some of the teams they could have faced, like the 2015 finalists Juventus, some Real fans may be happy to be facing a team who have not been much of a threat on the European scene. But such relief, if it exists, would be completely misguided.

Football in Italy has had its time. Not only are Juventus known as a ‘superclub’ in Europe, but Inter, who have since fallen off the waggon completely, also won the country’s inaugural treble back in 2010. More recently, though, Serie A has lost its place as a genuine home of quality. And the style in the league is more often than not disregarded as defensive and overly tactical. Napoli are the exception to that rule, sanding against the grain.

Their boss, Maurizio Sarri, affords his players freedom in attack - the last thing Real will want to come up against at this stage.

Usually, Real must make the most of the majority of possession and break down an organised defence, but the Partenopei will push them all the way with a high-pressing game. Sarri has not completely reinvented the club, rather he has expertly developed an existing ideology despite issues along the way.

The sale of star striker and former Real Madrid man Gonzalo Higuain to Juventus in the summer was not only stirred in controversy given the relationship between the two clubs, but it also cost Sarri 36 league goals from last season.

His replacement, Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik from Ajax, suffered a serious knee injury early in the season. But Napoli have found a way to stay prolific, with Dutchman Dries Mertens stepping up to score 16 goals this season. The 7-1 demolition of Bologna should serve as a warning of what they can do ahead of the meeting at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The UEFA Champions League waits for no one. Real Madrid have talent in abundance, more than enough to defend their title, but these are no longer the days of Di Stefano and Puskas and they are not the rightful kings. Napoli could easily cause an upset, and Zidane will have to rally his troops to make sure that doesn’t happen.