'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Real Madrid is in deep-rooted crisis at the moment, making its worst start to a league campaign ever, struggling for form in front of goal, and has parted ways with its coach barely four months into his tenure.
The club finds itself on 10th spot in LaLiga, has a goal difference of zero, suffered shock defeats to Alavez and Levante in the league and just got absolutely pummeled by eternal rivals Barcelona in a 5-1 drubbing at Camp Nou.
A lot of this has been put down to the departure of Ronaldo, and rightly so as the Portuguese had an extremely overwhelming influence on Real Madrid’s fortune in his nine-year stay at the Bernabeu, and it was expected that the club would suffer as a result of his departure.
Goals are proving hard to come by for Real Madrid, which was almost impossible to think of with Ronaldo around as the 33-year-old scored them by the bucketful, and fans only need look over in Turin at the Serie A where he has already banged in seven goals to have a feel of what they are missing.
However, despite all the negatives associated with the departure of Ronaldo from a Real Madrid perspective, there are still some positives to take. Here, we present three ways in which Ronaldo’s departure has benefitted Real Madrid.
#3 It has helped expose the team’s weaknesses
Real Madrid are three times defending UEFA Champions League champions, hence it is easy to believe that they are the best team in Europe, because how else could they have achieved such an unprecedented feat right? Wrong.
Most of the weaknesses of the squad being highlighted as though they are nouveau have always been present – the porosity of the defence, the ageing of the team’s core, the lack of squad depth and imbalance of the team among others, but Ronaldo’s presence helped paper over the cracks and made it seem like all was well with the team.
This was evident in LaLiga last season where the club finished a massive 15 points behind Barcelona and fell off the pace in the league as early as November when the team struggled in Ronaldo’s absence due to his suspension for shoving the referee in the Spanish Super Cup clash with Barcelona.
They were also not overly spectacular in the Champions League despite their triumph and had a lot of factors which played out into their favour (taking nothing away from their brilliance) en-route their victory over Liverpool in the final.
Now with Ronaldo gone, all of these weaknesses have been brought to the fore in ways which would not have been possible had the club’s record goalscorer been present, and as a result, adequate steps would be taken to address these shortcomings.
#2 Reemphasizing that Benzema is no longer an elite striker
Real Madrid has earned a reputation in recent years as one of the most lethal attacking sides, and once achieved a joint-record of going 73 matches in which they scored consecutively, so it comes as a major surprise that less than 18 months later, the club finds itself struggling for goals.
Recently, the team embarked on the longest goalless drought in over 30 years when the club went 465 minutes (almost eight hours) without scoring a goal.
Cristiano Ronaldo departed Real Madrid as the club’s all-time record goalscorer, with over a goal a game ratio and the guarantee of at least 45+ goals every season, so it was expected that the club would struggle somewhat in his absence, as those numbers cannot be found anywhere else except in Barca (and Messi).
However, what was not expected was that the club’s attacking struggles would be this pronounced, or that Real would stick with Karim Benzema to be the club’s main striker.
The 31-year-old has come a long way from the highs of his early career and is right now washed up and undeserving of a starting spot in a club with the calibre of Real Madrid.
While Ronaldo was present at the club, it was easy to excuse Benzema’s profligacy, as it was believed that he sacrificed his goals for Ronaldo to take the spotlight, but the Portuguese’ departure has exposed this to be false and reemphasized the belief that Benzema does not have what it takes to lead the attacking line for Real Madrid.
#1 Maybe only now would a priority be placed on their defence
The hallmark of most great teams throughout history has been their ability to keep out opponents from scoring.
However, Real Madrid has been an anomaly to this over the last few seasons, as the club has shown an alarming inability to shut out opponents, even against the lowliest of teams.
This is a rather appalling situation when you consider the fact that Real has within its ranks three out of the four FIFPro defenders, who are all among the best in the world.
For so long, Real Madrid’s model was to score as many goals as possible, essentially outscoring their opponents without much thought to their defence, and with Ronaldo present, the goals were guaranteed to flow, and a plethora of titles were won with this model, going against the maxim that great defences win titles.
With Ronaldo gone, however, the goals have dried up, and the defence is still leaking as many goals as before, only that now it is more highlighted because the goals are not going in the other direction, and after so long of getting away with such a porous backline, maybe only now would the club start to do the needful.
