Football Season Review

№3: Real Madrid

It was a very disappointing campaign for Real Madrid and probably their worst in the 21st century. They finished 19 points behind Barcelona, which is a record, they lost 18 times across all competitions, which is their second-most defeats in a season, and they exited the Champions League at the last 16 stage. They went through three coaches as Julen Lopetegui was sacked after just 10 rounds of LaLiga and as his replacement Santiago Solari lasted just 17 rounds. Zinedine Zidane returned for the final 11 rounds, but things didn’t improve under him and he actually had a worse record than Solari. It was always going to be tough for Real Madrid after losing Cristiano Ronaldo and they simply couldn’t replace his goals. They scored just 63 LaLiga goals, way down from the 94 of the season before. Karim Benzema did his part and his 30 goals across all competitions was his second-best haul since arriving at Real Madrid, but he was alone in attack as the only others to hit double figures were Gareth Bale (14 goals) and Sergio Ramos (11 goals, most of them penalties). The defence wasn’t good either and Thibaut Courtois was unconvincing in goals in his first season at the club. From back to front, this was a disappointing campaign and a big summer of change is expected as Real Madrid look to rejuvenate this squad that has achieved so much success but that didn’t convince in 2018/19.


Player of the Season: Karim Benzema