Can Gareth Bale carry Real Madrid to a 4th consecutive Champions League title?

Real Madrid, under Julen Lopetegui, have made a flying start to the season, only dropping points away at Athletic Bilbao and losing to Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup. While they will miss Cristiano Ronaldo for his goalscoring ability, they do have some fantastic players waiting in the wings to grab their chance.

A lot of credit for this needs to go to former manager Zinedine Zidane, as he was quite tactically aware in big game situations and gave the likes of Vazquez, Asensio and Isco more playing time. This inherent competition for starting places has elevated the gameplay of the team and created a hunger to win.

Lopetegui's approach has been slightly different to Zidane's. He likes to set his team up in either a traditional 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 with the emphasis on a fluent front 3. Isco/Asensio on the left wing have the license to roam and switch wings with Bale based on the flow of the game. Moreover, Benzema also has the license to drop deep and hold up play, similar to Firmino's role at Liverpool. This enables Madrid to counter swiftly with their front 3, keeping opposition markers on their toes.

The overlap by Marcelo and Carvajal is also a constant threat and opposition defences need to be able to communicate effectively among each other to keep RM at bay. On the defensive side of things, Lopetegui requires that his attacking players track back and form traps where they can dispossess or intercept the opposition players high up the pitch.

This tactic usually forces the opposition into playing sideways passes or long balls into the feet of the striker, who is then closed down by the likes of Casemiro, Ramos and Varane.

Gareth Bale

Real Madrid have yet to hit their top gear although they have been clinical in front of goal so far. Bale in particular has been key for them and has contributed 3 goals and 2 assists in 4 appearances. Solid contributions from Benzema, Asensio and Isco cannot be ignored, but as they progress deeper into the season they need Bale to step up, like he did at Spurs in his final season.

This team is still a work in progress and Lopetegui is yet to use some of the weapons he possesses in his squad - names that come to mind are Ceballos, Marcos Llorente, Vinicius Jr, Mariano, Vazquez and Vallejo.

I expect Madrid to make easy work of their group in UCL, although the real challenge for Lopetegui will be when the knockout stages arrive. Moreover, there is increasing pressure on him to challenge Barca for the La Liga title. We are in for a treat when the first El Clasico comes around and hopefully, we can see these heavyweights face off against each other in the knockout stages of the UCL.