What has gone wrong with Real Madrid?

Just a few months ago, Real Madrid became the champions of both Spain and Europe. Winning the Champions League back-to-back for the first time in the history of the competition, the royal team from Madrid were widely recognised as the best team in the world.

Domestically, Los Blancos are in trouble, trailing Barcelona by 8 points this early in the season, Real Madrid has never had such a big deficit in the league.

So what has changed for Real Madrid, which has had five players featured in FIFAPRO WORLD XI just last week?

Squad Depth

Real Madrid was known for their options available on the bench, where the likes of Alvaro Morata, James Rodriguez, Pepe had to fight for a starting position in the team.

Even though Madrid did sign few of the hottest youth prospects, such as Dani Ceballos and Theo Hernandez, and had Jesus Vallejo, Marcos Llorente and Borja Mayoral return from loan spells but that is not enough.

All the signings mentioned are talented and can be the best in the future, but at this point in time, they can’t be relied upon to change games by themselves.

Lack of Late goals

The men in white salvaged points on nine different occasions in the last 10 minutes.

In the current campaign, only Cristiano Ronaldo’s winner at Getafe has snatched a late victory, while the team has conceded in the 93rd minute to lose at home to Real Betis last month.

Overconfidence

Real Madrid lost to Girona 2-1 after taking the lead early on with the help of Isco. Zidane couldn’t be blamed for taking the opposition lightly as he named his strongest 11 available.

However, Real did take their foot off the gas after taking an early lead in Catalonia.

“We lacked a bit of attitude, we allowed them to come back very easily,” admitted Isco.

“We need to play better and work harder,” added midfielder Casemiro “Madrid are always obliged to win.”

Striker problem

After selling Morata, Real Madrid only have Benzema as an out and out striker. Though Benzema was never known for scoring goals week in and week out, he holds the play and makes room for the likes of Ronaldo and Bale to score goals.

This season hasn’t been the case at all, with Bale injured and Ronaldo misfiring, Real Madrid are finding it hard to score goals freely as they did last season.

Ronaldo has only scored a single goal in the league, although a suspension saw the 32-year-old miss the first four La Liga fixtures, one goal in six games is his worst start since joining the club.

Injury Crisis

It would be unfair to put the entire blame on Ronaldo. Real Madrid has had a fair share of their players injured early on in the season. Real Madrid has had 10 injuries in 12 matches so far this season. With Carvajal recovering from a heart problem, Navas and Bale are set to miss their crucial tie against Tottenham in the Champions League.

Madrid clearly have a talented squad, but they need to get their domestic focus back quickly or Barcelona will disappear over the horizon before the first Clasico of the season at the Bernabeu on Dec. 23.