Champions League Might Oddly Stand as Struggling Real Madrid's Best Title Chance

It has never been said that the hallmark of champions is winning 4-3. Or playing 78 good minutes. Or narrowly avoiding disaster after dominance.

Instead, such things are the traits of the flaky and the flawed, they say. Evidence of a pretender. And in their current state, Real Madrid might be perceived as such. Wednesday's 4-3 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk, after leading 4-0 does not exactly extinguish their sense of fragility in the wake of the dramatic collapses against Sevilla and Barcelona. 

"We played an excellent game for 78 minutes," said manager Rafa Benitez afterwards, per AS. "Obviously their goals were disappointing, but I'll take away the positives."

For Benitez, those positives will have been Cristiano Ronaldo's return to the scoresheet, Luka Modric's recapture of form and Gareth Bale's impact down the left in his most natural position. But compared with those of their rivals, Madrid's performance wasn't exactly ominous. 

Elsewhere in Europe on the night, Paris Saint-Germain crushed Malmo, 5-0, and Atletico Madrid cruised past Galatasaray while recording their 11th clean sheet in their last 14 Champions League games. A night earlier, Barcelona mauled Roma, 6-1, to continue their Clasico form, while Bayern Munich breezed past Olympiakos, 4-0. 

Madrid, though, they conceded three goals to a side that didn't score in their opening three outings in this competition, taking their three-game tally in the goals-against column to 10. Whichever way you cut it, Los Blancos have obvious vulnerabilities at present, their season already littered with obstacles. And yet strangely, the toughest competition of all might represent their best chance of major silverware this season. 

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Following Wednesday's victory in Ukraine, Real Madrid have now secured the top spot in Group A, rendering their final clash with Malmo as inconsequential. With the knockout stage not set to commence until mid-February, it means the Bernabeu club won't contest a meaningful Champions League match for almost three months. 

As such, Madrid have what they need: time. 

Though Real are in no shape right now to take on and outplay their fellow heavyweights, theoretically they'll be better placed to do so in three months. In that time, the team's evolution under Benitez should progress; the difficulties of this transitional period should ease. There are no guarantees, of course, and the situation could yet deteriorate further. But the time available to them is an important commodity regardless. 

And in La Liga, it's time that they don't have. 

Already trailing Barcelona by six points and now well behind in the head-to-head record following the catastrophic Clasico, Madrid's margin for error in the league has become minuscule.

Between now and the new year, they'll need to be flawless; between now and the next Clasico, the likelihood is that they'll need to be close to it—particularly when you consider that game will be at the Camp Nou, where Madrid have won only once in the league since 2007. 

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For Madrid to triumph in La Liga, then, unrelenting excellence is the requirement, the 26-game-long sort. While it may not be beyond them, they're unquestionably outsiders in the race. But in the Champions League, the equation couldn't be more different; the essence of a cup competition is one they're better-suited to. 

Now safely into the knockout stage, Madrid have just seven games separating them from the European Cup. In a competition in which ties are spread out, the demand for excellence is a sporadic one, infrequent explosions entirely capable of being enough. And even in their muddled existence, Madrid have such explosions in them.

Few doubt that.

The talent and firepower is there to overcome anyone if, on the night, they happen to locate the harmony that has often eluded them. 

It's why, despite exhibiting few hallmarks of champions at present, despite fluctuating between extremes, Madrid remain a dangerous proposition in Europe.

The hardest competition of all might be their best bet.