5 potential surprises that could happen in football in 2018

#3 Real Madrid will end the season empty-handed – sort of

Zinedine Zidane lifted the Champions League last season but could end 2018 empty handed

It’s a little hard to claim that Real Madrid could end 2017/18 empty-handed, given they’ve already won the Supercopa de Espana, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.

But if we’re frank, those competitions are basically glorified friendlies that nobody really cares about. In terms of the bigger competitions – La Liga, the UEFA Champions League and even the Copa del Rey – this could be the first season since 2014/15 that Los Blancos come away with nothing to their name.

Going into the season that may have been a crazy prediction given Zinedine Zidane’s side won so much last year, but it seems very different now.

Real’s form in the Champions League has been patchy at best – they were thoroughly outplayed by Tottenham both home and away, managing a 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu, but losing 3-1 at Wembley – and worse still, they’ve drawn Paris St. Germain in the round of 16.

PSG were clearly the outstanding side of the group stages and in Edinson Cavani, Neymar Jr and Kylian Mbappe, they may have the most dangerous attack in all of world football. Based on the form of both sides thus far in the Champions League, Real have little to no chance of surviving the tie with the French powerhouse over two legs.

In La Liga meanwhile, Real are way off the pace. They’re currently fourth - five points behind second-placed Atletico Madrid and a monstrous 14 points behind current leaders Barcelona.

For Zidane’s men to overhaul such a lead would take an absolute miracle, and even with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring goals, it seems impossible. Which leaves the Copa del Rey – Madrid are in the round of 16, but so are Atletico, Barca and Valencia – all of whom currently sit above Los Blancos in La Liga.

A victory in this cup is obviously a possibility, but given the form of Barca and Atletico, I wouldn’t put money on it. Instead, it’s more likely that Zidane may finish this season with nothing truly important to show.