Opinion: What's going wrong for Real Madrid this season?

Real Madrid has been abysmal this season so far. It would've been impossible to think in the summer that a team that has achieved the great feat of winning the UCL for a mammoth three times in a row would struggle against smallest of teams leave alone the thought of competing with Barcelona for the La Liga title.

Real Madrid started the campaign in scintillating fashion bashing Girona FC, Leganes, Getafe but was exposed by Sevilla, Alaves, and Levante. Their season kept on going downhill hitting rock bottom when Barcelona thrashed Real Madrid 5-1 even without their best player, Lionel Messi. The man chosen to lead this side after Zidane's departure, Julen Lopetegui lost his job after a run of poor results and humbling by FC Barcelona. Real Madrid currently sits 9th on the points table, 7 points from the top position.

What led to this debacle?

One may say that Real Madrid's core is ageing as Ramos, Marcelo, Modric, Navas and Benzema all on the wrong side of 30.

The other factor that may come into consideration is the team lacks motivation. Players like Ramos, Kroos and Varane have already won everything that is to achieve including the World Cup.

Meanwhile, Modric had a spectacular run last season winning the UCL, leading his nation to a dream WC final and thereafter winning FIFA The Best and UEFA POTY awards. Even the majority of other members in the squad have won UCL multiple times and therefore it may seem the team has nothing to look up for or fight for.

Madrid also had a poor transfer window. They may have bought world class players such as Thibaut Courtois, Alvaro Odriozola and Vinicius Jr, but these positions were already well covered. The failure came in when they were unable to replace Cristiano Ronaldo. They even failed to acknowledge the kind of player they lost claiming all the way they could be better without him. It was Perez's and management overconfidence which has led them here.

Gareth Bale who was supposed to be the protagonist after Ronaldo's departure has failed to deliver as he has disappeared on big nights whereas Karim Benzema has been made the scapegoat even after scoring 7 goals so far this season.

Meanwhile, Marco Asensio has been inconsistent throughout not taking his chances to show the world what he is capable of. The defence has been shaky as well with Varane and Nacho completely out of sorts.

Madrid has been unlucky with injuries as well with Carvajal, Isco, Marcelo, Varane, Benzema and Bale each being sidelined with recurring injuries. Madrid would need a lot of restructuring if they are to get back to their usual best and get something out of this tough season.

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