On the latest episode of the Real Deal (the analysis segment of the Managing Madrid podcast) Siddharth Ramsundar and Mazin Mukhtar discuss the state of Real Madrid tactically and run into an inarguable conclusion: no matter how badly the team performs, the lack of serious opposition domestically and in Europe give this team a much larger margin for error than we have become accustomed to over the past 15 years.

During the Ronaldo era, 90-95 point title races were routine, and the standards were very high. Furthermore, there were usually multiple juggernauts in Europe outside Real Madrid. Last season, Real Madrid with 95 points were the first team in La Liga to cross the 90 point threshold since Ronaldo left the league. Barcelona have been much weaker in the years since Ronaldo left, and have struggled to put together long periods of consistency since Messi left as well. Bayern Munich have been more inconsistent in all competitions since their treble victory in 2020.

This season, Real Madrid have played some of their worst football in recent memory, and have not been punished for it in La Liga. In the Champions League, no serious juggernaut could materialize the knockouts that would be serious favorites in a tie against Vinicius, Bellingham, Mbappe et al.

This is the consequence of having the best players in the world, but also a consequence of opposition teams perhaps overfixating on tactics or not having the pull to stockpile the same quality of players as Real Madrid. Still, in the 2010s you got Bale, Benzema and Ronaldo at Madrid and Messi, Neymar and Suarez at Barcelona. Right now, the gap between Real Madrid’s best attacking line and the rest feels significantly large. Barcelona’s attackers are great on paper, but partly because they are platformed by a system that leaks a ridiculous number of chances.

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Hosts this week:

Siddharth Ramsundar (@TacticalFouling)

Mazin Mukhtar (@MazinMuk)

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