Spanish Inquisition: Will Real Madrid End The Season Empty Handed?

Goal.com’s Cyrus C. Malek reflects on a Real Madrid season that could potentially turn into nothing more than impressive numbers.

It is astounding to contemplate what Real Madrid have accomplished in La Liga this season in terms of numbers: 95 points earned with one match left in the season. It is a record that has shattered the previous club best earned in Bernd Schuster’s debut coaching year by ten points - and there is still a match left in the season.

It is the greatest number of points ever earned by a debut coach in La Liga - the previous record was set by Pep Guardiola who broke Schuster’s mark last year. Yet it is curious that where we stand today, rumors continue to circulate that Manuel Pellegrini’s managerial seat will be vacant this summer.

The records do not stop with points, but continue with goals and victories. 101 goals in La Liga, just six off of the all-time record. In all competitions, that number extends to 118 goals. Domestically, Los Blancos have registered 31 La Liga victories… and counting. They are also proud holders of the most consecutive La Liga wins this season (12 straight matches), which is just three shy of their own all-time record. All in all, their numbers as a team equal or surpass some of the greatest Spanish teams in memory and history.

On the individual level, Cristiano Ronaldo, the most expensive signing in footballing history (another record), became the first ever Madrid player to score in his first four La Liga appearances. He has already tallied 26 domestic goals in his first season with Los Blancos - and he did so while still missing nearly two months with injury. In all competitions, CR9 has netted 33 goals in 34 matches and on that pace, if not for his injury, would have shattered his outstanding 2007/2008 42-goal season with Manchester United.

Ronaldo's very first La Liga goal

Improving on his 24 goals last year, Gonzalo Higuain scored 29 goals as Ronaldo’s partner in crime, making the duo responsible for 55 of their team’s 118 total goals (a 47% share of the scoring). Yet, inexplicably, rumours abound that Higuain may be on his way out of the Bernabeu come the summer transfer season, bringing to mind the unwise sales of Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder who will both, barring injury setbacks, feature in this year’s Champions League final... just not in Madrid shirts. How clear hindsight can prove to be.

But overshadowing all those records is the feeling that it may all have been for naught. Despite all of the historic marks in terms of points, victories, goals, and individual performances, Real Madrid are still only second best; their arch-rivals, Barcelona, have earned 96 points, which puts them in first place above Los Blancos with one match left in the season.

The hard truth is a jagged pill to swallow given the fact that despite the plethora of records, Madrid do not control their own destiny and are helpless, left only to hope, pray, and watch as the Blaugrana prepare to lift the Liga trophy for the second consecutive year.

And in many ways, Barca deserve it. Madrid may have racked up incredible numbers, some of them even besting the Catalans. But on a whole, Barcelona have, simply put, played better than their record-setting rivals.

While Los Blancos may have more goals than the Catalan behemoths in absolute terms (seven more than Barca’s 94), the Catalans’ goalscoring efficacy significantly overshadows that of Madrid: 17% of Barca’s shots on goal end with the ball in the back of the net while that number is 13% for the Merengues.

In terms of possession, Barca inevitably supersede Madrid as well. Over the course of the season, Madrid have averaged 58% possession in their league fixtures. Barca’s statistic in the same category registers an astronomical 68%, which translates into the ball spending an average of 61.2 minutes of a 90-minute match at a Barca player’s feet.

Simply inferred, Barca have been more dominant and have played better team football, passing and spreading the ball around the entire pitch, a style of play that saw them twice beat Madrid by shutout scorelines in both the away and home legs of El Clasico.

95 points and facing sack rumours

And thus, in the face of a host of incredible records, one record stands out above all others: €254 million.

Over a quarter of a billion Euros was spent piecing this season’s Blancos squad together, peanuts when compared to a Greek bailout package, but colossal on the scale of professional football.

That vast sum of money has ended up winning the team an historic 4-0 defeat and subsequent Copa del Rey elimination to Segunda B team Alcorcon, a sixth consecutive elimination from the Champions League in the Round of 16 to Lyon, and now nothing but prayer as Barca hold their hopes of a Liga title at the Camp Nou against 16th place Valladolid (albeit a team ready to fight to the bitter end to avoid relegation).

In the end, all the goals, the points, the consecutive victories, the individual star performances, all of it is meaningless in the face of another trophy-less season. One strives to break records on the way to winning championships, not in lieu of winning them.

If Barca fail to slip up in Los Blancos’ last title hope on Sunday, all Real Madrid will be left with this season are records. Yet the only one that will resonate will be second place - and while commendable, second place is a record that never tastes anything but bitter.

For the club, one cannot help but think that given the amount Florentino Perez et al. invested in this season, second place yields a very poor return - an evermore sour taste indeed.