Real Madrid's Liga Drought Continues Despite Cristiano Ronaldo's Rampant Scoring

Pepe to Karim Benzema to Cristiano Ronaldo. Three players, three seconds, barely more than three touches. Goal. 

Swift, breathless, lethal—classic Real Madrid. 

For Ronaldo, it was No. 1 for the afternoon. No. 24 for the year. No. 54 for the season. No. 308 for his Real Madrid career. 

Twenty-four minutes later, it was the same again: Three players, three seconds, barely more than three touches. Goal. The trio this time featured Marcelo and Javier Hernandez. But there was a common denominator: Ronaldo.

It was No. 2 for the afternoon. No. 25 for the year. No. 55 for the season. No. 309 for his Real Madrid career.

Eight minutes later, same thing: Raphael Varane fed James Rodriguez, who looked up and found Ronaldo. Another trio. Another swift move. Another goal—No. 3, 26, 56 and 310. And hat-trick No. 7 for 2014-15 alone. 

Phenomenal. Staggering. Mind-blowing.

But somehow a little inconsequential, too. 

Alex Caparros/Getty Images

"Messi's La Liga," ran Marca's headline, after Lionel Messi's single strike 600 kilometres west in Madrid had delivered another league title for Barcelona, their fifth in seven seasons. "Barca win La Liga and Madrid win the Euroliga," wrote AS editor Alfredo Relano. In Real's case, he was talking about basketball. 

In the capital at the Vicente Calderon, the scenes were jubilant; in Catalonia at the Estadi Cornella-El Prat, they were glum. Oddly, the teams experienced their elation and despair in each other's territory.

At the latter, Ronaldo, with a blank expression, exited quickly. The victory had been made insignificant. A hat-trick had somehow been made to count for little. An exhibition of personal excellence had been soured.

For Real Madrid, it's a script that's becoming uncomfortably familiar.

In the six seasons since Ronaldo's arrival, Real Madrid have lifted the league title on just one occasion. More generally, the tally stands at one triumph in seven years for Madrid. Not since pre-Alfredo Di Stefano—the player with which Real Madrid's rich history of success starts—have Los Blancos endured a leaner run domestically.

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

A historic Barcelona era has undoubtedly played a massive role in such a sequence. But this year's defeat will be a stinging blow for Real Madrid.

For so much of the season, the league felt within their control. By Christmas, they'd left scorch marks all around the country. Wins followed wins. Records were tumbling. They'd won the Clasico. It was shaping as a landmark season. And concurrently, Barcelona looked to be in both transition and turmoil at various junctures. 

But still Real have lost. Still, they can't hold a grip over the Catalans. 

"Why? Why?" some might ask, channelling their inner-Jose Mourinho. To explain the current campaign, fingers will be pointed at everything from untimely injuries to form lapses, from fatigue to rotation issues, from squad depth to the crushing pressure that surrounds Real. But it's also more than that. 

"Each year, we do the impossible in order to win, but they always take it from us by two points or something like that. I do not know why," president Florentino Perez told AS in 2013 (via ESPN's Dermot Corrigan).

Funny, because everyone else seems to. 

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

In his assessment of Real Madrid's league failure, Relano moaned of the "interference" of the president's "vanity," a complaint that's startlingly common and one that only seems to be increasing.

At the Guardian, Sid Lowe wrote that manager Carlo Ancelotti has been undermined by Perez, "a president who does not believe in him, not least because he does not truly believe in any coach." And here at Bleacher Report, Jonathan Wilson pointed to Perez's summer transfer business, adding that Angel Di Maria was sold "for looking a bit like Franz Kafka and so not being marketable enough." 

Like Ronaldo in the three goals at Espanyol, Perez is the common denominator in the ongoing swirl of instability at the Bernabeu. The never-ending transfers, the Galacticos, the perpetually changing face of the manager, the constant upheaval—it's all Perez. 

Every year in Madrid, everything feels new and shiny. But rarely does it feel sustainable or built to last. A sense of continuity is nowhere to be seen—except for in Ronaldo, Madrid's one constant.  

Year after year, Ronaldo's personal achievements break new ground. Year after year, he's a staggering example of consistency. Year after year, he provides his club with a standard that few in the game's history can match. 

But still the era of dominance Real Madrid craves continues to be elusive. The "Ronaldo era" at the Bernabeu isn't laden with trophies. League titles continue to go elsewhere. 

The drought and underachievement go on.