5 teams who have disappointed in Europe so far

#1 Real Madrid

Real Madrid are yet to hit the right notes this season

As one of the biggest clubs in the world, the standards that Real Madrid are held to are like few others. The defending Spanish and European champions have made a disappointing start to the season, underlined by the poor domestic form of their strikers.

Indeed, of the 98 clubs in Europe’s major leagues, only the forwards of Serie A minnows Benevento, who have yet to even pick up a point yet, have a poorer scoring record than Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo this season – a quite incredible statistic. Remarkably, this is the worst start for two forwards in the club’s long and illustrious history.

The contributions of Marco Asensio and Isco have kept them going to some extent in the league, but Zinedine Zidane’s men have allowed Barcelona to race into a 10-point lead, and while they will feel that can still be bridged, it is an alarming deficit to have to chase.

Valencia are also ahead of Los Blancos, while Atletico Madrid, themselves considered to have endured a testing start, only trail their neighbours on goal difference.

Things have been equally testing in Europe, where a defeat to Tottenham means that the likelihood is that they will finish their group in second, thereby opening up the possibility of meeting a club like Manchester United, Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain in the spring.

Nothing is over for the Bernabeu men yet, but their lives are very, very complicated now.