THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HOLDERS ARE ON COURSE TO MISS OUT NEXT SEASON
With almost half the season gone in La Liga, it is fair to say Real Madrid are in crisis.
That word is routinely abused by the Spanish press who band it about every week, normally on a Monday in the aftermath of a defeat or draw for Los Merengues, yet this time they might have a point.
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| Change is needed at the Bernabeu |
Today the World Club Cup holders lost 0-2 at home to lowly Real Sociedad, despite fielding nine of those who won the Champions League against Liverpool in Kiev last May.
Europe's top side for the last three seasons now sit a woeful fifth after 18 matches, a full ten points behind eternal rivals Barcelona and even trailing Deportivo Alaves, one point outside the qualification spots for the Champions League, the competition they have won four out of the last five seasons.
On Wednesday Real host Leganes in the first leg of their last 16 Copa del Rey tie. Even though the competition is minor, only a win will do for a beleaguered club and its unexpected manager Santiago Solari, who was handed the reins on a temporary basis in the wake of the Julen Lopetegui mess.
Real's brazen capture of Lopetegui from the Spanish Football Federation saw the national team sack their coach on the eve of the World Cup in Russia amid a climate of insanity. Lopetegui was fired himself by Real three and a half months later and the club have still to find stability this season.
Second spot in La Primera is never enough for the insatiable Real directors, supporters and Real-obsessed Spanish football dailies AS and Marca, but European success makes up for a lot. The fact Real have won the last three Champions League in a row has handed the club precious bragging rights over the more stable Barca.
Florentino Perez, the man behind the badge, is holding out for a new leader in the summer. After raiding White Hart Lane for Gareth Bale and Luka Modric, he is keen to haul Mauricio Pocchetino and Christian Eriksen to Madrid as well.
If Solari is fired in the summer as is probable in favour of a big-name coach, he can at least point to his capture of the FIFA World Club Cup in December.
The Argentine was a logical choice given he had been coaching behind the scenes at youth and reserve level at the Bernabeu since 2013.
His insider connection should keep him in place until the end of the season, but if a resurgent Ajax should humiliate his side in next month's Champions League and qualification for next season be thrown into doubt by domestic stumbling, expect Perez to appoint his third coach since Zinedine Zidane called it a day in May last year.
Zidane had cited a "need for change" at the club when he surprisingly resigned, interpreted as foreseeing with foreboding the rocky road of rebuilding the spine of the side beyond the BBC attack and thirty-somethings Marcelo, Luka Modric and Sergio Ramos.
The Cristiano Ronaldo era ended soon afterwards too, bookending nine amazing years in Madrid but leaving a hole in an eleven devoted to maximising his forward thrusts and a void in the club's identity.
Youth team talents hailed as future stars have not filtered into the first team while recent signings such as Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior (both €45 million), Alvaro Odriozola (€30 million) and Mariano Diaz (€21 million) have not won starting spots.
The long-mooted plan to redevelop the Bernabeu has also been put on the back burner again given the on-field chaos.
After half a year of chaos, the Frenchman's swift exit looks increasingly to have been a stroke of genius as change at the Bernabeu stays beyond the horizon.
Necessary reconstruction of the world's biggest club is no small-scale engineering project but nobody is ready to push the painful start button.
In the meantime, Real fans are thinking of 2020 already.
(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile