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What's the story?
Almost a year after the departure of their greatest goalscorer in club history, Real Madrid are experiencing issues with attendance at the Santiago Bernabeu.
In case you didn't know...
After nine years at the Bernabeu where he scored 450 goals for the club, Ronaldo left the Spanish giants to join Juventus last summer.
Ronaldo has been one of the standout performers in Serie A this season. With 19 goals and 8 assists, he is one of the top goalscorers in the Italian League. Despite being 34 years old, the five time Ballon d'Or winner is showing his calibre in Italy.
The Portuguese talisman's impact on Max Allegri's Juventus is staggering, as evident from the Bianconeri's dominance in league, and Ronaldo's exploits to take the Old Lady into quarter-finals of the Champions League.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner revealed the reasons for his departure from Real Madrid in an interview with France Football, where he claimed that Los Blancos president Florentino Perez looked at him as a business relationship.
On the other hand, Los Blancos endured a tough season after the departure of Ronaldo, sacking two coaches, and it seems they will be ending their season without any trophies as well.
The heart of the matter
AS has reviewed how and why the attendance of Santiago Bernabeu has decreased this season. In the first home game of the 2018/19 LaLiga season, there were less than 49,000 spectators in the stadium, which was their lowest attendance in a decade.
Moreover, when Eibar came to the Santiago Bernabeu to face Madrid in March, they had their third lowest attendance, while the match against Huesca in the Bernabeu saw just 49,293 people turn up for the match.
According to the report, the major reason for the decrease in attendance at the Bernabeu is Ronaldo's depature. The star attracts interest wherever he goes, and the fact that he is not in Spain is lowering the interest of fans significantly.
Other factors like Madrid's poor form in an abysmal season also played a part. They have nothing left to play for as there is a huge 13 point gap between Los Blancos and league leaders Barcelona with just seven games left.
What's next?
While it is expected that Zinedine Zidane's return is a major reason for lifting the mood of fans, the club is desperate to bring some world class reinforcements which will help the case.
