Goalshy Real look for killer touch
COMMITTED Defending champions play familiar rivals Borussia Dortmund, seek scoring touch from Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema MADRID:
Real Madrid’s slump in form has alarms ringing in the Spanish capital, but pretenders to the champions’ European crown should beware: Real are often a different animal in the spring.
A familiar foe in recent seasons, Borussia Dortmund, visit the Santiago Bernabeu for the fifth time in five years on Wednesday. However, for once there is precious little on the line with the Germans already eliminated from the Champions League and Real certain to finish second in Group H behind Tottenham.
Two years ago, Madrid were in such mid-season crisis that Rafael Benitez was sacked in January. Zinedine Zidane took over and five months later won the Champions League. Last season, Zidane’s men finished second in their group, but still qualified behind Dortmund and went on to retain their European title.
This winter has brought another crisis. A 0-0 draw at Athletic Bilbao Saturday left Real eight points adrift of Barcelona at the top of La Liga. An unusual lack of firepower has hobbled the Spanish giants with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema scoring a meagre four La Liga goals combined and Gareth Bale sidelined for most of the season by a series of injuries.
The Champions League has been a different story, though, as Ronaldo once again leads all scorers with eight in five games. Throughout his nine seasons with Real, Benzema has also tended to save his best for the European stage and he became the fifth-top scorer in the competition’s history with a double in a 6-0 rout of APOEL Nicosia two weeks ago.
Poor domestic form has historically only made Madrid stronger come the business end of the Champions League.
But there is a feeling that this Madrid squad is not as strong as last season. Ronaldo admitted, that the departures of Alvaro Morata, James Rodriguez and Pepe over the summer had left the current squad lacking “experience.”
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However, Zidane insists the level of performance is the same and all that is missing is a killer touch in front of goal.
“We need to keep going and think that there will be better moments to come,” said Zidane.