Second place in the league, a semifinalist in the UEFA Champions League, and a round of 16 showing in the Cup, not too bad for most teams right? Well if you’re Real Madrid, that is a considered a failure.
Just two seasons removed from winning La Decima, Los Blancos will be hearing this phrase echo in their heads from last season, “And Barcelona have won the UEFA Champions League to complete a treble-winning season,” as they try to shake off last season’s disappointments with a new season and new faces amongst them.
After the sacking of uber-popular manager Carlo Ancelotti who brought them that elusive 10th Champions League title, Rafa Benitez takes over the reigns in what is the most highly publicized and heavily scrutinized job in the footballing world. He’ll have some heavy lifting to do to get Real Madrid back to where they want, on top of Spain and Europe once again.
Last Season
It was previously mentioned to open up this piece about Madrid’s failure as a whole last season. However, they did find some silverware bringing home the UEFA Super Cup (a 2-0 win over Sevilla) and the FIFA Club World Cup. However, those were the only ones they were able to bring back to the Bernabeu as they also fell short in the Spanish SuperCopa losing to city rivals Atlético Madrid 2-1 on aggregate.
After back-to-back losses to Real Sociedad and Atlético following an opening day win in the league, they reeled off an astounding 12 consecutive victories in the league, highlighted by a 3-1 victory at home against Barcelona. However, something yet so small and subtle was their turning point in the season, and it didn’t even happen in a competitive event.
After their FIFA Club World Cup triumph, they flew to Dubai for the Dubai Challenge Cup to play AC Milan. They lost 4-2 but even the loss was insignificant. The fact that they travelled to Dubai during their short holiday from football left them a bit fatigued headed into their next league match against Valencia. They ended up losing that match 1-0. Despite winning five straight after that, the same hunger and desire was lacking.
The team’s Copa del Rey run was brief. They defeated Las Palmas in their opening fixtures and ran into rivals Atletico. Los Rojiblancos eliminated them 4-2 on aggregate. In the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, Fernando Torres scored in the opening minutes of each half to stick the dagger into the Madrid hearts.
In their UEFA Champions League campaign, they stormed through their group as they ran away with it winning the maximum 18 points. The highlight of their UCL campaign was their 3-0 win at Liverpool as they silenced Anfield and especially The Kop with a magnificent display of sheer class.
Although they ran away in the Group Stages, they nearly experienced a meltdown of epic proportions. After winning 2-0 at the Gelsenkirchen against Schalke, the Royal Blues dropped four away goals (led by a Klaas-Jan Huntelaar brace) but fell short thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo brace and a Karim Benzema goal as Madrid snuck by on aggregate 5-4.
When the draw came out for the quarterfinals, Los Blancos were drawn with city rivals Atletico. For once, Real were not favorites headed into the tie, Los Rojiblancos were. They swept the season series against their rivals in the league winning on a combined score of 5-0 (won 4-0 at the Vicente Calderon), defeated them in the SuperCopa, and knocked them out of the Copa del Rey.
It took awhile for someone to score in that tie, 179 minutes to be exact, and it was Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez who tapped home the winner as the losing streak was finally over. Despite that, their run ended with a defeat to Juventus. Ex-Madrid striker Alvaro Morata sunk them as he scored two of the three goals to knockout his former side.
Transfers In/Out
Real are known for making highly publicized, superstar signings every summer, but there weren’t any “eye-popping” signings from them this window. They improved at right back bringing in Danilo who will likely start over Dani Carvajal. They paid for 31.5 million Euros for Danilo from FC Porto. Also from Porto was central defensive midfielder Casemiro. The Brazilian was bought back from the Portuguese side for 7.5 million Euros.
With Iker Casillas aging and declining and the potential move for David de Gea still potentially looming, the team’s most decorated keeper and club captain packed his bags in an emotional goodbye to his boyhood club. He left for FC Porto on a free. He wasn’t the only player to leave on a free though as Sami Khedira joined Champions League rivals Juventus.
The on-again, off-again move for Manchester United’s Spanish keeper has clearly left both Real and United in an odd spot so Madrid went with another option at goalie, signing Kiko Casilla from Espanyol. While on the topic of Manchester United players, Chicharito’s loan ended and packed his bags back to Manchester.
Most recently, Real Madrid completed the capture of Inter Milan central midfielder Mateo Kovacic. They were able to sign him on a six-year deal and paid 32 million Euros for him as UEFA Financial Fair Play rules forced the Italian side to sell him.
Manager
The new man in charge here is Rafael Benitez. Benitez has had a history with Los Blancos playing for Real Madrid Castilla for his first seven years of professional football and were the first side he managed from 1993-1995. The last time he managed in Spain was when he coached Valencia from 2001-2004. In that time, he won the league twice and won the UEFA Cup.
He’s most famous for his time with Liverpool leading them to a famous Champions League victory against AC Milan in Istanbul. He also managed Inter Milan to the Club World Cup and Chelsea to the Europa League. His last coaching stint was at Napoli winning the Coppa Italiana and the Supercoppa.
First six
- Sporting Gijon-Real Madrid
- Real Madrid-Real Betis
- Espanyol-Real Madrid
- Real Madrid-Granada
- Athletic Bilbao-Real Madrid
- Real Madrid-Malaga
- Los Blancos have to be salivating at these opening fixtures to start the season. They open up the season with newly promoted Sporting Gijon and should have 12 points headed into their most difficult tie in the first six, a trip to the Basque region to face Bilbao.
Bilbao are coming off a high of defeating Barcelona 5-1 on aggregate in the SuperCopa and defeated Real at home last year so this will be the trickiest of the six ties for Madrid.
Derby Days
October 4, 2015: Atletico Madrid - Real Madrid
November 8, 2015: Real Madrid - Barcelona
February 28, 2016: Real Madrid - Atletico Madrid
April 3, 2016: Barcelona - Real Madrid
Before they face off against Barcelona, Los Merengues will be thrown into another battle as they face Sevilla each time before meeting the Blaugrana. Those run of back-to-backs will be vital should they win La Liga this year.
Stadium
Madrid play their home games at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. This has been the home of the club since it opened up in 1947. The capacity of the stadium is 85,454 and has hosted four Champions League Finals, the 1964 UEFA Euro Final, and the 1982 World Cup Final. It is the second-largest stadium in Spain behind Barcelona’s Nou Camp.
Most Important Player
Gareth Bale must be the impact player he was during the 2013-14 season if Real Madrid want to lift up silverware this season. Two seasons ago, he produced 22 goals and 16 assists in all competitions including the winning goals in the Champions League Final and the Copa del Rey Final.
Last season, his numbers didn’t drop off significantly with 17 goals and 11 assists in all competitions, but he fell short of expectations when he wasn’t scoring goals in the big moments. When comparing his Champions League stats from two seasons ago to last, he scored four more goals (six in first season) and had three more assists (four in first season) in his inaugural season with Madrid than last season. He’ll need to find some of that first season magic again.
Predictions
Although they lost their main goalkeeper, expect Real Madrid and new number one keeper Keylor Navas to be a bit more defensively sound this season. The team was third-worst in goals conceded amongst teams to qualify for Europe. The return of Casemiro and the signing of Danilo will help shore up some of those defensive lapses.
Like always, expect Real to be there until the end in all competitions as they look to replicate the success that their El Clasico rivals achieved last season.
La Liga-Winners
Copa del Rey-Semifinalist
UEFA Champions League-Winners