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There has been a lot of discussion about the possible wonders in the upcoming season of European football for Real Madrid, the UEFA Champions League title-holder which saw its best player leave and the resignment of its legendary coach.
For the moment, the 2018/19 season did not start well for the Spanish side. Julen Lopetegui's first official match was a 4-2 loss against Atlético de Madrid in the UEFA Supercup match.
Cristiano Ronaldo's departure to Italian champions, Juventus and Zinedine Zidane's resignment just days after Real Madrid achieved its third straight UCL championship under the French coach.
Coming off two and a half year under Zidane, in which Los Blancos won nine trophies. In 141 games with Real Madrid as the tactical and motivational leader, Madrid won 100 games and only lost fifteen.
During Zidane's tenure at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Cristiano Ronaldo shined. The Portuguese scored 112 goals in 114 games and gave 28 assists in that span. Recovering after these losses would be tough for any group of players.
Madrid did not break the market, and the structure is the same, but without the greatest player in history and without the coach with most Champions League-winning campaigns.
Given Ronaldo's departure, let's take a look into Real Madrid's top three players in the current squad.
#3 Toni Kroos
The perfect midfielder, Toni Kroos is one of Real Madrid's main pieces since his arrival after winning the 2014 FIFA World Cup with Germany. The German has provided the Spanish giants a great touch in the middle of the field with great attacking abilities and good effort off the ball.
After finding the right place for him in the midfield briefly under Rafael Benítez and permanently with Zidane, thanks to Casemiro's spot in the starting lineup as a defending midfielder, Kroos has been one of Madrid's most prized pieces.
Kroos has been able to command Real Madrid's midfield alongside Luka Modric and the Brazilian muscle of Casemiro. Aside from his defensive efforts, the German has produced good numbers on offence, mainly due to his fantastic capacity to take long free-kicks and corner kicks.
Entering his fifth season in Spain, Kroos has played 191 games and provided 55 assists and scored 12 goals.
#2 Sergio Ramos
Probably the greatest defender in football history, Sergio Ramos remains as one of Real Madrid's most prominent players, due to his football talent and his leadership inside the pitch. Ramos is the captain and the anchor on defence in the Lopetegui-led squad.
The Spanish captain did not play well during Madrid's loss to Atlético in the UEFA Supercup. However, the defender scored a goal from the penalty spot, which gave Madrid the lead in the early stages of the second half.
Ramos' ability to score goals should take a bigger role during Madrid's season, primarily due to his responsibility to shoot the penalty kicks for the Casa Blanca. Ramos has stated Real Madrid will have the same ambition for this season and the hunger to win trophies, even though Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane left the team.
Ramos might reach 600 matches for Real Madrid in the upcoming season. In the 564 games he's played for the team, Ramos scored 73 goals, which is the third best tally in Madrid's current squad behind Karim Benzema (193) and Gareth Bale (88).
#1 Gareth Bale
Judging players based on potential is not the right way to measure their impact on a team, the reality and performances should be the only weapons to talk about a players' caliber. With Gareth Bale, the potential takes some part in determining the Walsh player as Madrid's most prominent piece for the upcoming season.
Bale's performances for Real Madrid have been both great and inconsistent, primarily due to his long list of injuries suffered since he arrived in Spain. Bale has had a couple of seasons with under 31 games played due to his injury-prone physique.
Despite the inconsistency, Bale has scored at least 17 goals in four of his five seasons in Real Madrid, which says a lot about his immense talent. Also, he averages 12 assists per season with Real Madrid.
Last season, Bale was hit by many injuries again, but his performances when healthy weren't far from fantastic. Bale was Madrid's hero in the UEFA Champions League final at Kyiv versus Liverpool, scoring the two goals which made the difference for Madrid over the red squad, including his colossal bicycle kick-goal to put the 2-1 in favour of Los Blancos.
Bale scored 21 goals in just 39 games for Madrid last year and, after a stunning preseason and a good performance in Madrid's loosing-effort versus Atlético in the UEFA Supercup, he is positioning himself to be the main card in Real Madrid's attacking display.
