How and why Real Madrid have gone from La Liga champs to flops and are already SEVEN points behind rivals Barcelona
Our friends at Football Whispers look at the plight of Zinedine Zidane's men - including the erratic form of Gareth Bale
DESPITE an enviable array of talent, and no shortage of major honours accumulated over the last 18 months, Real Madrid have endured a difficult start to the 2017/18 La Liga season.
The reigning Spanish champions have already dropped seven points after just five games of the new campaign and are playing catch-up, with Barcelona topping the table.
Our friends at have taken a look at what’s going wrong for the European champions at the moment.
After securing a league and Champions League double, becoming the first team to retain Europe’s top prize in 20 years in the process, were installed as heavy favourites to top La Liga again this season.
Liverpool’s refusal to sell Philippe Coutinho’s only added to Blaugrana frustration in a summer of disarray which also saw superstar forward Neymar move to Paris Saint-Germain for a world-record fee.
Zinedine Zidane’s side’s dismantling of their bitter rivals in the Spanish Super Cup furthered the belief that the best team in Spain resided in the capital.
But, five games into the new Spanish top-flight campaign, Los Blancos have only two wins to their name and already sit seven points behind unbeaten .
Madrid’s great rivals were expected to struggle, at least, that is, by their usual high standards.
MOST READ IN FOOTBALL
But with Lionel Messi, restored to a central role by new manager Ernesto Valverde, in unplayable form – he has scored 12 goals in just eight all-competitions games thus far – the Catalan giants are flying with five wins from five in La Liga.
And it is Madrid who have been unable to find their feet yet. They first dropped points in just the second league game of the season, a 2-2 draw at home to Valencia.
Against Los Che, the 12-time champions of Europe were trailing 2-1 with less than 10 minutes to play, and needed young star Marco Asensio’s game-saving free-kick to spare their blushes.
After the September international break, Madrid were held at home again, this time by Valencia’s local rivals Levante. In a game they would expect to dominate and win easily, Zidane’s side missed a host of clear-cut chances, slipping to a 1-1 draw.
The most recent embarrassment was Wednesday night’s 1-0 defeat at home to Real Betis. Madrid’s away form has been solid, winning both of their away fixtures, against Deportivo La Coruna and Real Sociedad, scoring six times and conceding just once. But an expectant Bernabeu crowd have been left disgruntled in all three home games.
Against Betis, Madrid again racked up more than enough scoring opportunities to win the game, but their usual ruthlessness was found wanting, lacking composure in front of goal.
They looked to be heading toward another disappointing draw as the game wound down only to concede a 94th-minute goal, as Antonio Sanabria profited from some non-existent marking to head home a last-gasp winner, stunning the Bernabeu into silence.
Such defensive lapses have cost Madrid this season, with an inconsistency setting in among Zidane’s back four and positional faux pas allowing inferior teams to hurt them.
But it is the chances they are missing at the other end that have contributed most to Madrid’s shaky start. Their ordinarily frightening frontline has too often been wasteful inside the penalty area.
The form of Gareth Bale will be a worry for Zidane. The Welsh superstar missed key chances against Betis and Levante, and is now regularly the target of boos from sections of the Madrid fanbase.
Cristiano Ronaldo returned to La Liga action against Betis after a five-game ban for a red card and subsequently pushing the referee in Madrid’s Super Cup first-leg victory over Barcelona at the Camp Nou.
The suspension has prevented the four-time Ballon d’Or winner from finding his rhythm this season, able to play in the Champions League but prevented from taking part in domestic action, and his rustiness showed against Betis.
The gap to Barca is alarming from a perspective and Zidane must ensure that it doesn’t grow any wider.
The French tactician should have enough credit, off the back of two Champions League successes, to ride out this storm. But president Florentino Perez is not renowned for his patience with managers.
However, Zidane has the coaching capabilities to turn things around, and no manager in the world boasts a better cast of supremely talented players to work with.
Keep up to date with ALL the transfer news and gossip on our blog