What’s Real Madrid’s secret?

SAred

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So that is 3 on the trot, 4 in the last 5 seasons that is more than United have done in their history. 13 in total, 6 more than the next best AC Milan and 8 more than team's that play Champions League on a regular basis. 8 more than the best English team and a whole 10 more than United. What makes Real Madrid so bloody good in Europe.
 

Wumminator

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They looked at how the leagues were going and they got in a legendary player of the club who can command respect from the players and knows the club well.
 

AgentP

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Their current squad. They are full of winners. They have leaders all over the pitch pulling the strings. They are all big game players and have a killer mentality.
 

Suedesi

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A really good fecken team.

At the end of the day, they beat champions of France, Italy, Germany and Liverpool in the final.

Ramos and Varane are very good defenders and comfortable on the ball.
Kroos-Modric axis is one of the best in world football
They've got lots of power/physicality upfront with BBC
Talented youngsters in Isco, Asensio etc
 

Treble

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Great players, clever manager, referees and a lot of luck.
 

SwedishFish

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A strong experienced squad when it comes to dealing with these type of big games. They keep their heads cool and fight back whenever they get put under pressure. You can't underestimate the value of having players that know how to deal with these types of games, it was painfully clear who had and who hadn't yesterday.
 

Varun

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Referees and luck, at least this year
A really strange way to the trophy
:lol:

So that is 3 on the trot, 4 in the last 5 seasons that is more than United have done in their history. 13 in total, 6 more than the next best AC Milan and 8 more than team's that play Champions League on a regular basis. 8 more than the best English team and a whole 10 more than United. What makes Real Madrid so bloody good in Europe.
Their current team is full of world class players in almost every position and equally importantly, proper match winners with a big game mentality.
 

PepG

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Honestly i think this is the end for this Real team. Most probably they will have a major overhaul this summer with some emblematic figures leaving. The biggest challenge for Zidane so far will be how he gonna replace them so to continue the winning machine he created.
 

Javi

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That's a very schematic view. See how these games all went and especially how everything went. Real this year beat Chelsea in terms of luck for sure.
Tell me when they got lucky. Maybe against Bayern. But to compare that team to Chelsea is quite frankly laughable.
 

In Rainbows

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Oh they've had luck alright. They've gotten Klopp who has lost 6 finals. Juve as a club have lost 7 of 9 European cup finals. And then Atletico who love jobbing to Real Madrid.
 

SAred

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Honestly i think this is the end for this Real team. Most probably they will have a major overhaul this summer with some emblematic figures leaving. The biggest challenge for Zidane so far will be how he gonna replace them so to continue the winning machine he created.
Can see maybe Ronaldo leaving and Neymar coming in. That team does not need a massive overhaul just yet.
 

Treble

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Let's remind you about their luck this season:

Last 16: PSG were very good in the first leg but Real leveled from offside. Second leg Neymar injured.
Last 8: Juve didn't deserve to lose 3:0 the first leg and were denied a pen. Second leg Real were baled out with a controversial pen.
Last 4: Real were dominated in both games by Bayern who had several injuries and were saved by referee mistakes in the second leg.
Final: Salah injured already in the first 30 minutes and Karius gifted them 2 goals...

Only the 16/17 CL campaign was truly great and even then they needed a bit of luck and goals from offside against 10 man Bayern.
 

NinjaZombie

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Ronaldo, Marcelo, Kroos, Modric, Bale, Isco, Benzema, Carvahal....their team is just full of good-to-great players.

Look at how they (eventually) dealt with Liverpool's high press. All of them are comfortable making quick first time passes which negated the press. All of them are comfortable in tight spaces. Look at how they set up their team to attack. Their centre backs are comfortable on the ball so you didn't see Kroos or Modric having to drop deep to receive the ball. They have at least 7 players involved in attack. United, in comparison, only have what, the front four, maybe Pogba, involved?

TLDR; They're just much much better than United. Players' technical abilities, the way they're set up, the mentality etc.

We're so far away, having spent 100s of millions and it's bloody depressing.
 

VancouverUtdFan

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Squad is stacked with world class quality, leadership, and winners.

It’s unfair really. Teams have a couple such players ex. Bayern have Lewandowski+Muller, PSG have Neymar+Silva+Mbappe, United have Pogba+De Gea, City have KDB+Silva+Aguero, etc etc.....Madrid have that for virtually every position and in some cases for their subs.


Just crazy. I mean they’re not all world class but you get my point; even their supporting cast players who aren’t “world class” are levels ahead of what most teams have. Just the right mix of everything. Simply winners.
 

VP

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They've got an amazing squad that seem to only play for this tournament. Some teams seem to be cursed in this competition (Juventus and even United to an extent), this lot seem to be completely charmed.

Last minute goals, favourable referee decisions, injuries, penalty shoot-out wins - surely this footballing karma ends at some point.
 

Bwuk

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Team full of winners who know how to win big games.
 

Lawman

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Squad is stacked with world class quality, leadership, and winners.

It’s unfair really. Teams have a couple such players ex. Bayern have Lewandowski+Muller, PSG have Neymar+Silva+Mbappe, United have Pogba+De Gea, City have KDB+Silva+Aguero, etc etc.....Madrid have that for virtually every position and in some cases for their subs.


Just crazy. I mean they’re not all world class but you get my point; even their supporting cast players who aren’t “world class” are levels ahead of what most teams have. Just the right mix of everything. Simply winners.
The difference in the benches highlighted this last night. A bit like City in the premiership, having Sane, Sterling, KDB, Bernado, Jesus, Augero and Silva to select from in attack is such an advantage. If someone is out of form injured tired or just not finding away to be effective in that game Pep can make a sub and the quality is roughly the same. Plus all the guys can go past a man we have Mata and Lingard who would really toil to get a game with any other premiership top 4 team.
 

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They have some of the best individual talents in the World who have the ability to turn the game through individual skill.
 

kouroux

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It is a bit of everything yeah. We need to aspire to be like them, improve the squad by including players who have big balls when it comes to the big occasions.
Enough of these scared, shell type of players who are ready to play if they are put in their customized position.
Real Madrid have so many players who can play in so many different positions and they don't complain
 

Sky1981

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It boils down to having the best team

Players like Modric, Ronaldo, Bale etc are a star player that can win you match, Real have not 1, but 3 of them. Not to mention quality across the pitch, and no "youngster" with prospect bullshit, they play the best player available now, now the potentially becoming best player (cough...martial)

They have a solid manager, and some luck, and consistency on top of it.
 

Dutsey

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By not focusing on the league they have only won the league once in the last 5 years so are not a great team. Maybe a great cup team but not team.
 

AndyJ1985

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They don't accept mediocrity. You'd never find them hoofing the ball to Fellaini, or watching Lingard run around like a headless chicken. They have a squad of players who can be physical and technically proficient. When they spend a fortune on players they target the very best. Unlike us they don't brag about being the biggest club in the world because of fan base and money, they brag about it because on the pitch they're the most successful. Our focus is too much on the commercial side of things and not enough on building a team of world class players that can win multiple CLs
 

Skills

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Ambition. Finishing second without trophies is a unanimous failure of a season for them. Playing some turd football on the way would have the entire club take a shit on the managers face on the way out. We have some fans rating it as a 8/10 season.

They don't settle for anything less than being the best. This is their response to Barcelonas best ever era, and they've matched them in Europe in the last 15 years.
 

Ducklegs

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They are all really good at football.
 

SpyLuke10

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The secret?

Cristiano Ronaldo, duh.

Imo, without him, they don't win it in 2014, they don't win it in 2016, they still win it last year and they only maybe win it this year.
 

SpyLuke10

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Also, massive investment in the squad between 2009 and 2014. Imagine if United didn't 'stinge out' in these years and actually bought some top players (RVP is the only one who really comes to mind).
 

Skills

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The secret?

Cristiano Ronaldo, duh.

Imo, without him, they don't win it in 2014, they don't win it in 2016, they still win it last year and they only maybe win it this year.
You've got it the other way around IMO.

There's no way they win it last year without him performing at the level he did. In 2016 they just got a really good route to the final. Last year Ronaldo came up huge to get them past Bayern, Atletico and Juventus in the final. For me 2017 was probably the crowing moment of his career.
 

JamesB__

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The secret?

Cristiano Ronaldo, duh.

Imo, without him, they don't win it in 2014, they don't win it in 2016, they still win it last year and they only maybe win it this year.
Without him this year they wouldn’t have got past PSG and certainly not past Juve.
 

RoyH1

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Ridiculous standards.

The way they treat players and managers might be hard to stomach for some, but it works. Its a club obsessed with success and it shows.

They are different. And it works for them.
This. We bash their fans expectations at every turn, but it’s that arrogant belief that the CL is “their” tournament that permeates the club top to bottom.
Having that deep and talented squad helps too.
 

Kapardin

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Mentality of the players is on another level. They never let their heads drop or lose focus like ours do.

We need to build a side like that. It is difficult but not impossible.
 

Cloud7

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It boils down to having the best team

Players like Modric, Ronaldo, Bale etc are a star player that can win you match, Real have not 1, but 3 of them. Not to mention quality across the pitch, and no "youngster" with prospect bullshit, they play the best player available now, now the potentially becoming best player (cough...martial)

They have a solid manager, and some luck, and consistency on top of it.
They also dont tolerate underperformance from their manager, and don’t think “well if we sack this person then who else is available”. Sixth place but two second rate trophies followed up by second place and no trophies gets you fired at Madrid (Cough cough)