As a crisis goes, it doesn’t seem to be a very big one. Real Madrid trudged from the pitch after their 4-0 defeat against Atletico Madrid on Saturday, shellshocked as a sixth game came and went without a victory for the men in white against Diego Simeone’s side since that fateful Champions League final night in May.
Three times Real Madrid have failed to score in a game this season; each time it was Atleti standing in their way. The noisy neighbours of Madrid are a side built in the image of their gutsy manager, and they’ve found a way to get under their biggest rivals’ skin. Be that as it may, Carlo Ancelotti’s side are still top of La Liga by a point, and Atletico Madrid are four points back. Crisis, what crisis?
BLIP
The same goes for Cristiano Ronaldo, a player whose blips in form merely lower him down from extra terrestrial to world class. He’s scored 38 goals in 34 games for club and country this season for crying out loud.
So, in the grand scheme of things both he and Madrid are ticking along quite nicely – however in the context of his illustrious achievements and the dizzy heights he’s reached since he moved to Spain, everything doesn’t look quite so rosy.
2015 hasn’t been his year so far. He’s scored four goals – two of which came against lowly Getafe – in nine games. Of course then there’s the sending off against Cordoba which cost him a two game suspension, and the persistent reports that his knee is causing him trouble; The Guardian’s Sid Lowe claimed this week that Madrid are mindful of the issue but not overly concerned at this point.
