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Real Madrid is burning – How did this happen?

By Barrett Rouen

MADRID, SPAIN - JANUARY 24: Zinedine Zidane, Manager of Real Madrid looks on during the Copa del Rey, Quarter Final, Second Leg match between Real Madrid and Leganes at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on January 24, 2018 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
MADRID, SPAIN - JANUARY 24: Zinedine Zidane, Manager of Real Madrid looks on during the Copa del Rey, Quarter Final, Second Leg match between Real Madrid and Leganes at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on January 24, 2018 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images) /
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VALENCIA, SPAIN – JANUARY 27: Toni Kroos of Real Madrid celebrates with teammate Cristiano Ronaldo after scoring his sides fourth goal during the La Liga match between Valencia and Real Madrid at Estadio Mestalla on January 27, 2018 in Valencia, Spain. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images) /

Age

Real Madrid are old.

It’s really just that simple.  It’s not that players above a certain age can’t play anymore.  I don’t subscribe to that idiotic Arsenal and Chelsea belief about players over the age of 30.  Maldini was still the best in the world at 35 after all.

It is just that they need reinforcements.

Real Madrid because of their historic achievements have needed their players to play in more matches than ever before.  The same players were racking up 55-65 matches in a season and still reporting to their respective countries for international duty. It is an impossible task that they are being asked to complete time and time again.

Three years ago at the beginning of this run, Ronaldo was 29-30 in the middle of his prime.  Sergio Ramos was 27-28 and Benzema was 27 and Modric 28.  It was a phenomenal group of players who all knew each other well and had been together for a while.  They were all in the heat of their careers and it was a perfect scenario.

That hs simply changed now.  Ronaldo doesn’t look like he’s going to score 60 goals and Ramos is suddenly much more fragile than years before.  Benzema simply looks like a bad player and Modric has less pace than he used to have.

The team has simply aged and they haven’t prepared for it well at all because of the aptly already discussed negligence.

If Real Madrid adapted their strategy during this time to better suit the changes in their squad things would be different.  Under Guardiola Barcelona famously made one large tactical change per season in order to stay relevant.  4-3-3 to 3-4-3 to the invention of the false 9 that team changed something every season.  Real Madrid simply stayed the same and because of that they have gone stale.

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