Football Season Guide

Real Madrid won Europe’s top prize for the second time in three seasons, beating city rivals Atletico Madrid on penalties in the Champions League final in May. The “undecimal” followed hot on the heels of the long-awaited “decima”. Florentino Perez and the Real Madrid fans crave the European Cup more than any other trophy but the focus now must return to wrestling Barcelona’s recent domestic dominance away from them. Real have won La Liga just once in the last eight seasons, representing a very dark period in their history. Zinedine Zidane picked up from Rafa Benitez midway through the 2015-16 campaign and guided the Madrilenos to a major trophy. Now he is intent on reigning in Spain as well as on the continent. The Merengues have eased their way into pre-season without the majority of their major stars. The biggest one of all, Cristiano Ronaldo, will not be back until after the start of the season after he was injured in the European Championship final in which his beloved Portugal overcame France. A defeat to Paris Saint Germain and a narrow win over Chelsea won’t offer an accurate gauge of Real’s strength heading into the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla on August 9th because too many regulars were missing. With the first team stars back – even in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo – Zidane’s team will be favourites to beat a very new, young Sevilla side at the Lerkendal Stadion in Trondheim. Real Madrid’s transfer activity has been very muted so far this summer. They exercised a buy-back option to return Alvaro Morata to the Santiago Bernabeu from Juventus and after speculation that he could be sold on at a much higher price, it now looks likely that he’ll stay and offer competition for Karim Benzema up front. That strengthens Real in attack, but most importantly they haven’t been weakened by the fringe departures of the likes of Alvaro Arbeloa, Denis Cheryshev and young Borja Mayoral. There will surely be a couple more faces arriving at Valdebebas before the transfer deadline, but this is a very difficult squad to improve. Marco Asensio has impressed in pre-season since returning from a loan at Espanyol and he may stay with the first team this term, meaning there is even less room for players coming in. James Rodriguez and Isco remain at the club, which is to their general benefit, although it is understood that Perez may listen to offers for players who are not regulars and would generate a lot of cash if sold. Real look strong on all fronts but they could do with a linchpin in midfield as a more defensive alternative to Toni Kroos and they are looking at several options. It is not a question really of how strong they are, rather whether they can prove stronger than their eternal rivals and European powerhouse Barcelona.