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Following their convincing aggregate victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League last-16, Real Madrid are now among the favorites yet again to lift a third consecutive UCL title come the final in Kiev on May 26.
Los Blancos were originally touted as front-runners for Europe's most prized silverware but a series of poor performances in both La Liga and the Copa del Rey threatened to derail the reigning UCL champion's season.
However, Zinedine Zidane's men are much fancied to defend their crown after a comfortable win over PSG, who were tipped to go deep into the competition this season.
As it stands, Europe's main bookmakers currently have Real Madrid at 5/1 to win the UEFA Champions League, second only to EPL run-away leaders; Manchester City who are currently favorites at 4/1 to take home the title.
#3 All eggs in one basket
Real Madrid have underwhelmingly performed in the league so far. From the dark days of December when a tie against PSG seemed as daunting as anything possibly could, to the optimism of March following their safe passage to the quarter-finals, much has changed for Real Madrid.
They are currently sitting in third position on the La Liga standings with 57 points and are ahead of fifth placed Sevilla by a comfortable 12 points margin.
With automatic qualification for next season's UCL almost guaranteed, Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane would want to put all of his eggs in one basket and concentrate solely on defending their UEFA Champions League title.
Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri has affirmed he is keen to avoid the defending champions despite their indifferent form. "I think Madrid are the favorites to win the competition. They're focusing solely on the Champions League and there's nobody else that deals with games in this competition like they do," said the Juventus manager.
It might be a propitious omen for Los Blancos that they managed to win La Novena and La Decima when they finished third in the league with regards the 2001-02 and 2013-14 seasons.
#2 Pedigree in knock-out games
Real Madrid have now reached the last eight for an eighth successive year. No other team in Europe can match the pedigree of Los Blancos in the knock-out phase of the UCL. During their La Decima triumph in the 2012-13 season, they walked past the much fancied Pep Guardiola's Bayern by a dazzling scoreline of 5-0.
The reality is that the win against PSG was no fluke. The odds were stacked against them this season when they drew much fancied Paris Saint-Germain in the Last 16, but again Los Blancos responded emphatically and knocked out their much heralded opponents. Juventus have already shown the importance of experience in these knock-out games against Tottenham aswell.
The best version of Real Madrid has returned because against Paris Saint-Germain, Zinedine Zidane's men showed a version of themselves that was yet to be seen this season. Real was fast, agile, physically strong and there was evidently strong team work.
The Madrid manager also managed to silence his critics as his side eliminated one of the main contenders for the title via a tactical master-class.
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo is one of two outstanding players in this generation and also one of the greatest of all time. When it comes to the UEFA Champions League though, this man surely is the very best. He is top scorer in UCL history, with 117 goals in 148 games.
He has scored 102 goals in 96 matches for Real Madrid in Europe's elite competition. The Portuguese star has scored in every UCL game so far this term, notching 12 goals so far.
Cristiano Ronaldo is evolving and rather than terrorizing opposition defences with his pace and assists, he now concentrates on scoring goals. He is specializing in getting goals via one touch, with 22 of the 33 he has this season coming that way. In other words, he is concentrating on interpreting play and getting ahead of defences by thinking quicker.
Cristiano proved to be the decisive factor in Real Madrid's back to back UEFA Champions League triumph last season and with him hitting form with 17 goals already in 2018, Los Blancos would be hoping that their talisman does the business yet again for them.
