What To Make Of Real Madrid’s Season?
Given myself a couple of days to think about it and ultimately it’s hard to view Real Madrid’s season as anything other than being disappointing considering the money they have spent. On one hand that is cruel to say about a team who did manage 96 points in La Liga but are they the best team to go trophy less in a season or the worst 96 point team in history?
The answer as it is in most cases is somewhere in the middle. In any other league that didn’t have Barcelona in it Real Madrid would of had a cape walk to the league title and Manuel Pellegrini wouldn’t need to update his resume. On the subject of Pellegrini in some ways it’s cruel that he’ll most likely be the one to pay the price by losing his job. Coaching the likes of Villarreal and Real Madrid are two very different things but a period of adjustment is not exactly how Real Madrid do things.
Whatever may happen to Pellegrini there are enough strikes on his resume to justify his dismissal. Losing in the Copa del Rey by a score of 4-0 against 3rd division Alcorcon was just the start. As I mentioned in my Inter post the difference between success and failure is holding a 1-0 lead. Real Madird failed to do this against Lyon and were knocked out of the Champions League, strike two. The heart of a champion was missing from this Real Madrid side. It’s hard to pin point it but against Barcelona it was Barca who had the heart of a Champion, they fought tooth and nail to keep their spot on top in Spain and Real Madrid just weren’t up for the fight. You saw it again on display against Malaga in the final week of the season. Once news hit that Barcelona were winning against Real Valladolid, Real Madrid just took their foot of the gas. When you are playing in a league with Barcelona, talent around is not going to get the job done. There needs to be fight, there needs to be a player who will bark out orders out on the pitch or on the sidlines to keep everyone in line. Real Madrid are a team full of leading actors but no character actors. While the movie poster may look good, the actual movie itself would be doubtful to hold up. This sums much of Real Madrid’s just completed season.