The fall may not have been deep, but the landing has been hard.
A second trophy-less season for Real Madrid, the most successful La Liga and Champions League club, was confirmed in the worst way possible: a defeat at Barcelona, who, with their win, defended the Spanish title.
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Los Blancos kept the title race alive by their fingernails as they crawled their way to Catalonia, knowing that doing so could result in the cruellest of heartbreaks for their fans. And so it came to pass.
Down by two at half-time at Camp Nou – and it could have been a lot more – hanging in there to limit the damage and humiliation was key, but the 2-0 defeat will have cut deeply for a club that has lifted 36 league and 15 Champions League titles.
The defeat means Real will finish second this season, not an unusual circumstance in what has regularly been a two-horse race in La Liga. The manner, however, of their failure this season – including their quarterfinal exit from Europe’s top table – has left far more questions than answers in the Spanish capital after another season of discontent.
How do Real solve a problem like Mbappe?
The signing of Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain two seasons ago was seen as a return to the days of collecting the world’s finest talents and collectively calling them “galacticos”.
Real had just completed the league and European double under the illustrious Carlo Ancelotti, the most successful manager in European history and no stranger to managing the top names, having led a list of galacticos in his previous spell as Los Blancos manager.
Last season did not go to plan, though.
Mbappe’s arrival broke up the 4-3-3 formation that had served Real so well for so long, with English midfielder Jude Bellingham playing a key, advanced role, while Vinicius Junior thrived in front of and around him.
Both were forced to shift position to accommodate Mbappe, who prefers to drop deep from his central position to link up play or run with the ball.
It trod on the toes of the two key performers. Even Ancelotti was not immune to the famed Real chop as rumours circulated all season that his failure to gel the team would bring to an end the Italian’s Spanish love affair.
Enter Xabi Alonso.
Heralded as the answer to Madrid’s problems after sweeping through German football with Bayer Leverkusen, Alonso is also hailed as a midfield maestro as a player for both Madrid and the Spanish national team.
Rumours were rife from the off that the players did not buy into Alonso’s system, and friction was often apparent with Mbappe, despite the forward’s refound scoring ability. His 24 goals have him two clear at the top of this season’s Spanish scoring chart.
Alonso’s time was clearly up long before the end came, just after the clock ticked in the new calendar year. Alvaro Arbeloa was given the task of guiding the seemingly rudderless ship to the end of the season as interim head coach.
Mbappe’s troubles were only just beginning, though. By the end of the season, a “Mbappe out” petition raised more than 33 million signatures, and the Frenchman was the latest focal point of the Madridistas’ displeasure.
Reconnecting Mbappe with the fans and connecting him with his teammates’ style of play will be the number one focus for the new season.
Can Real resolve Vinicius Jr’s fallout with fans?
Prior to the campaign waged against Mbappe, Vinicius fell foul of the home support, with boos for the forward ringing around a series of performances either side of the Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich.
The Brazilian went on a 19-game run without a goal for club and country between October 10 and January 11.
Ironically, he broke his unwanted streak in the 3-2 Spanish Super Cup final defeat by Barcelona, Alonso’s last game in charge.
The ruptures were apparent, however, and rumours abounded that the 25-year-old’s stay at the only club he has ever known could be coming to an end.
Manchester United were the first to be linked with a move for the versatile forward, but all of Europe’s elite will be on red alert should there be any indication that Real may consider Vinicius as the way to reshape the team around their most bankable asset on and off the field: Mbappe.
Will Valverde and Tchouameni survive dressing-room bust-up?
As the day of destiny at Barcelona approached, the last thing Real needed were more unwanted headlines, let alone from two of the brighter spots in an otherwise dark campaign.
Uruguay’s Federico Valverde and France’s Aurelien Tchouameni were involved in a training-ground bust-up on Thursday, which left the former needing a trip to hospital for a head injury, ruling the midfielder out of the coming weeks.
Real swiftly fined both players on Friday, but Tchouameni was still named in the starting lineup at Barcelona.
Should Real decide that one or both were required to leave to avoid a potential toxic fallout in the dressing room, then, much like in the case of Vinicius, the phone lines of Europe’s top clubs will be working overtime to seal one or the other.
Is Jose Mourinho’s return the answer for Real?
Cometh the hour, cometh the man?
Given the extent of the discontent across the club, the job of replacing Alonso on a full-time basis will require something not far short of a miracle.
Mourinho was not a popular choice in his time in the Real dugout, given his pragmatic tactics, seen as defensive by some, which were out of keeping with Real’s free-flowing philosophy.
Given the chasm between Los Blancos and Barca – not to mention the German and French top teams and the financial power of the English Premier League – Real fans may find themselves being a little more forgiving of Mourinho’s style.
The return of Ancelotti – a man born out of an Italian Serie A that only knew a defence-first mindset – proved successful and popular, and Real are known for their desire for managers with lengthy and proven track records.
Mourinho, who says there has been no contact to date with Real, would ruffle feathers, as his stint at Manchester United proved. But he regarded his second-placed finish behind cross-city rivals City with the Old Trafford club as one of his greatest achievements.
Lifting Real one place from their successive runner-up spots in La Liga may not be beyond the 63-year-old, who won La Liga, the Copa Del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup with Real in his 2010-2013 stint. The spell also resulted in three Champions League semifinal appearances.
The Portuguese also provided an early-season wake-up call for Real in this campaign, when his Benfica side claimed a 4-2 league-phase win that pushed Los Blancos into the Champions League playoffs, which they did eventually progress from with a win against Benfica in a rerun over two legs.
Who else could be the next Real manager?
The rally-rousing Jurgen Klopp would certainly help with the reconnection Real so desperately need with their fans. He is renowned in his title-winning spells, both domestic and European, with Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, for uniting the players and fans in a shared, focused mindset. It could be the antidote for the current malaise, a cathartic approach that contrasts with the momentum building behind Mourinho’s latest comeback.
Another widely respected German is Julian Nagelsmann, who is currently in charge of his country’s national side, but may call time on the role after the 2026 World Cup.
At 38 years old, it may be seen as a risk – not dissimilar to the 44-year-old Alonso – but a three-year stay with Bayern Munich, prior to taking on the German job in 2023, may count in his favour.
It is thought that Didier Deschamps may also be coming to the end of his time in charge of the France team, and his former French international teammate Zinedine Zidane is also linked with a second spell at Real. Despite his 57 years, Deschamps has limited experience as a club manager, a contrast with another of the perceived frontrunners, Massimiliano Allegri, who led Juventus to five consecutive league titles in his native Italy.
The task of leading one of the most successful clubs in football is becoming unenviable. But the rebuild begins now, and the rise will start out of the ashes of the crash and burn that culminated in Sunday’s defeat, deep in enemy territory, at Camp Nou.