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Champions League is the most coveted trophy of the European club competition for which clubs across leagues strive for. The glory of winning the prestigious trophy once or twice is enormous as the winners become legends and stamp their authority on the walls of history.
Having said that, we have clubs like Barcelona, Liverpool and Bayern Munich who have won it five times each. Then there is AC Milan who has won it seven times. These are clubs which have a rich history in this flagship club competition.
And, finally comes Real Madrid, the legendary club that holds the record of winning it a whopping thirteen times. Di Stefano's Real Madrid is still the strongest contender of the greatest team of this competition who had won it in consecutive five seasons from 1956 to 1960.
In this slideshow, we will analyze that without Cristiano, does Real Madrid have the resources in place to take one step forward to match the achievements of De Stefano's Madrid by defending their crown. Real Madrid's goalscoring retrospective into each of the Champions League wins since 2013-14 would provide a better idea in this aspect.
2013-14: The goalscoring hackathon by Los Blancos
After losing it to Bayern Munich in the semifinals in the previous campaign, Real Madrid came back stronger in the competition to wreck havoc on the opponents. The 20 goals scored in the group stage provides the proof of the wrath faced by the defences of Copenhagen, Galatasaray, and Juventus. Cristiano scored 9 out of those 20 goals in 5 games. He was not included in the squad against Galatasaray at the Bernabeu.
In the round of 16, they had a light work of Schalke 04 which they won 9-2 on aggregate. Ronaldo scored a brace in each leg. In the first leg, Benzema had already put Madrid on the driving seat by scoring a brace before Cristiano and Gareth Bale came to the party. In the second leg, Ronaldo scored a brace to add gloss to his goalscoring spree.
In the quarterfinals, Ronaldo's strike in the first leg proved decisive as they battled it out 3-2 on aggregate against Borussia Dortmund. Bale and Isco were also on the scoresheet.
In the Semifinals, Benzema gave Los Blancos a slender advantage of a solitary goal in their home fixture. A quick-fire brace by Sergio Ramos in the return leg left Bayern Munich stunned and demoralized.
In the finals, a stoppage-time header from Sergio Ramos cancelled Atletico Madrid's lead, saved the day for the Merengues and provided the launch pad for the ultimate victory. Ronaldo scored a penalty in the 120th minute of the game.
Los Blancos went on to score 21 goals in the knockout phase where Cristiano found the back of the net 8 times. Therefore in total CR7 scored 17 goals out of 41 scored by Real Madrid. However, Bale, Benzema, and Ramos were equally decisive in key encounters.
2015-16: The Wolfsburg conundrum and the lady luck
Real Madrid failed to defend their crown as was the norm in the competition after a heartbreak in the hands of Juventus in the semifinals of the 2014-15 season. However, Los Blancos' hunger to win the competition was more than ever and they demonstrated it by trashing Shakhtar in the curtain-raiser in the 2015-16 campaign.
They continued with the same goalscoring tenacity as shown in the previous campaigns. Real scored 19 times in the group stages of the event out of which 11 were scored by Ronaldo.
Cristiano found the back of the net across both legs and eased the nerves in the Madrid dugout in the round of 16 against Roma which they won 4-0 on aggregate.
Los Bancos were staring at a shock exit after conceding twice at Wolfsburg in the away fixture in the quarterfinals. However, a commanding Cristiano hat-trick took Madrid to the semifinal with a 3-2 victory on aggregate.
The lady luck smiled on Real Madrid when a deflected Gareth Bale attempt in the second leg at Santiago Bernabeu, counted as own goal by Fernando, was sufficient to see off Manchester City in the semifinal.
In the all Madrid final, a Sergio Ramos opener in the first half was cancelled by Carrasco of Atletico Madrid late in the second half. Real Madrid went on to win the trophy on penalties with Ronaldo taking the last and the decisive one.
Real Madrid had scored 28 times in the campaign out of which CR7 had 16 strikes to his name.
2016-17: Showman Cristiano's emphatic rise
Real Madrid's 2016-17 campaign was a testament to Cristiano Ronaldo's authority in the competition. Real Madrid had in total 36 goals out of which Ronaldo scored 12.
In the round of 16, it was a collective effort from Madrid to overcome Napoli. After heading to Italy with an advantage of 3 - 1, Real Madrid were favourites to advance. However, Napoli started brilliantly to spoil Los Blancos' party. Dries Mertens fires past Navas to ignite hope for Napoli in the first half. When Madrid was living dangerously in the game, Sergio Ramos stepped up to head two corners in the second half putting a full stop to the dreams of Napoli.
However, quarterfinal onwards it was a super Cristiano show. Cristiano was decisive in the knockout stages of the tournament where he wrapped up two hattricks in the quarter-final and the semifinal successively to go top of the goalscoring chart.
Against Bayern Munich, Cristiano scored a hat-trick in the second leg to set the date with city rivals Atletico Madrid. Poor officiating by the referees made highlights as Ronaldo appeared to have scored 2 goals from offside positions.
Cristiano was sublime against Atletico and a hat-trick in the first leg ensured that they were one step closer towards defending their crown. Two quickfire goals in the return leg from Atletico had given a scare to Madrid but an Isco strike late in the first half settled the nerves and the tie.
Juventus were awaiting in the final in a hope to rattle the dreams of Los Blancos to defend the crown. However, Cristiano and Madrid had other ideas. A classic display of goal-scoring prowess and supreme midfield control dismantled one of the best defences of recent era and saw Los Blancos successfully defend their title in Cardiff.
2017-18: When Madrid derailed the League Table Toppers
The 2017-18 season saw Real Scoring 33 goals in total out of which 15 were from Cristiano Ronaldo. Cristiano scored in each of the group stage games becoming the first ever footballer to do so.
In the round of 16, he scored 3 goals with a brace in the first leg to see off the mighty Paris Saint-German who were the champions of Ligue 1. PSG was considered to have had the best attack at that moment and Real Madrid defence was leaking goals at will. However, the aggregate result of 5-2 showcased the supremacy of the Real outfit in the competition.
In the quarterfinal, he repeated the same feat against Serie A Champions, Juventus, with an overhead wonder goal that won him the goal of the season award. Juventus almost took it to the extra time but were left heartbroken when Cristiano Ronaldo fires home the penalty conceded at the end of extended stoppage time.
However, he was quiet in the semifinal and the final in the campaign where Bale, Benzema, Modric, and Asensio played the pivotal roles. Real Madrid shattered the dreams of Bayern Munich, the Bundesliga Champions, in the semifinals.
In the final, Bale came off the bench and scored a decisive brace to see off rampant Liverpool and made it a hat-trick of Champions League for the Los Blancos.
Conclusion
After the shock move of Cristiano to Juventus in the summer of 2018, many questions have started to reverberate in the footballing folklore. The most obvious of them is whether or not Real Madrid could defend their title without their talisman striker.
Any team that could give the closest competition to the legends of the 1950s is Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid who has won it 4 out of the last 5 seasons. They are the first team to make a hat-trick of wins in the Champions League era after the European Cup was rebranded in 1992.
Ronaldo has remained the synonym of elegance and the top-scorer for the last six seasons in the competition. With 120 strikes to his name, it should not be a surprise that fans across the world call him Mr Champions League.
Out of 138 goals scored by Real Madrid in the four Champions League wins, Cristiano has scored 60 goals, approximately 44 per cent of the goals. It is a huge percentage considering the stature of the competition.
Unarguably CR7 remained one of the Mr dependables for Los Blancos, however, microanalysis suggests that he was not decisive in all the games and other members have chipped in with valuable contributions at the right time to win the trophy.
Data suggests that Real Madrid depended heavily on Cristiano, however, they have proven goal scorers in the form of Benzema, Bale, Isco, Ramos and now Asensio. If they come good as a collective unit, Real Madrid could become a team to beat.
Yet, it is a known fact that without Cristiano, Real Madrid would not have broken the jinx of quarterfinal where he proved decisive in each of the campaigns. The team that boasts the luxury of having a talismanic scorer always has an upper hand in every tie. In the current campaign, Real could miss Cristiano heavily in the quarterfinal come April 2019.
Until then, many would find it difficult to estimate the value of the superstar scorer for Real Madrid. He had been the watchful protector of Madrid. He was not the footballer Bernabeu fans deserved, after the boos and the whistles, he was the footballer they needed at times to garner confidence against mighty opponents.
If Real Madrid comes to face off with Juventus in the current campaign, they might realize the gem they have lost to the Italian giants. Juventus were already a heavyweight without Cristiano. Now they should be the most feared opponents in the competition. A glimpse of what they are capable of has been portrayed at the Mestalla against Valencia.
For Madrid, the probability of defending the crown stands tall but not strong enough. The goals which were the backbone of Los Blancos' confidence of traumatizing opposition defense is no longer there. Unfortunately, this time the crown has to be defended without the availability of that magical confidence.
They would need someone from the core to step up and provide cover for those number of goals. Bernabeu would be looking for someone who could rise 8 feet high to convert crosses into goals. They would be looking for inspirations at times of depressions. They would be looking for hope.
Ramos and Co. will have to unite, rise and prove it to the world that, "Yes, they can. Cristiano may be the greatest footballer as an individual but they are the greatest team ever to grace the field". History is waiting with its golden ink.
