3 Targets for Real Madrid to Hit in 2016

A new year and a new manager. New fortunes, too? 

Real Madrid will certainly hope so. 

After a diabolical calendar year in 2015, Madrid are desperate for 2016 to be a happier one at the Bernabeu. Zinedine Zidane will be the man attempting to make it so, having taken over as manager from the recently sacked Rafa Benitez in a move that wasn't at all surprising.

Indeed, Benitez's removal was an inevitable development given the turbulent season Madrid have endured, but the Madrileno can take solace in the knowledge the club's problems went well beyond him. After all, this is a club that saw everything go wrong in 2015, "everything" in this case meaning everything.

So what can Real Madrid do to make the year of 2016 more prosperous than its predecessor? What targets need to be set and achieved?

Below, we take a look.

Appoint a Sporting Director

PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/Getty Images

The assessment from AS was brutal, yet it was also entirely accurate. "Florentino Perez felt an internal pain and he addressed it," wrote the Madrid-based daily on the president's decision to sack Benitez. "In his routine morning exchange with the sporting director, his reflection in the mirror had already told him that the time was right to take a decision."

The message here, of course, is simple: Real Madrid don't have a sporting director.

And they need one. Urgently. 

Without one, Madrid's structure has become a mess; their method of operation all wrong. From the top, Perez, a construction magnate, a businessman, runs the club in a chaotic fashion, his impulsiveness as an all-powerful president at the heart of the club's issues.

Under him, Madrid spend millions on players they don't need and sell the ones they do; squad stability is absent; managers are hired and fired with little rationale; when it all goes wrong, and it goes wrong regularly, the finger points at everyone else.

Back in March, Perez held a press conference to insist Carlo Ancelotti's job was safe, blaming the media for the club's problems. Two months later, he sacked the Italian. When asked why, his response was: "I don't know."

In November, Perez held an almost identical press conference to express support for Benitez. That vote of confidence lasted 42 days. 

Behind Benitez's sacking was the Madrileno's inability to correct the issues that emerged in early 2015—in fact, many of them became worse—but what Perez fails to acknowledge is he's central to the creation of the problems. Obsessed with the Galactico delusion, he's incapable of building a team but is in control of doing so anyway; despite being seemingly unaware of what good coaching looks like, he's the only person who really matters in the decision-making process regarding football management. 

Admittedly, Perez's business acumen has turned Madrid into a financial powerhouse—the potential is there for this club to be incredible—but under his presidency, the club has become a business first and a football team second.

Only the appointment of a sporting director—a sporting director given the authority to actually do his job—will change that.

Win a Clasico, Address Shortcomings Against Top Sides

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Two Clasicos, two defeats and an aggregate scoreline of 1-6: In 2015, that was Real Madrid's return from the matches that matter most in the Spanish capital.  

Back in March, the 2-1 defeat to Barcelona at the Camp Nou represented the point where the Catalans seized control of last season's title race; in November, the 4-0 thrashing at the Bernabeu was representative of how the two clubs differ so drastically. 

And yet, for Madrid, those outings were emblematic of much more than that. 

In the last calendar year, Madrid's record against major rivals and strong sides in general was appalling. In addition to the pair of losses to Barcelona, Los Blancos won just one of six meetings with Atletico Madrid. Against Valencia, they went winless. Against Villarreal and Juventus, ditto. Against Sevilla, they were recently run over. 

In 2015, Madrid became little more than Europe's ultimate flat-track bullies.

It can't continue in 2016. 

Win a Title...And the Champions League Looks the Best Bet

FABRICE COFFRINI/Getty Images

Just as it has been for all those before him, winning a title will be imperative for Zidane and his job security at Real Madrid in 2016. Initially, the Frenchman's status within the game will afford him a honeymoon period, but quickly, trophies will be all that matter.

As such, the immediate question becomes, which title is more realistic for Zidane and Madrid: La Liga or the Champions League?

Only four points off the top of the table, Madrid on paper remain strong contenders in the league if some of their long-running issues are able to be addressed. However, as broken down here on Bleacher Report in December, the club's equation in the Primera Division is actually far more difficult than it looks on the surface. 

In front of Madrid, Barcelona still have a game in hand (against relegation-threatened Sporting Gijon), and with a squad that's been significantly strengthened following the registrations of Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal, they face by far the easiest schedule for the remainder of the season, with all of their crunch games set to be at home at the Camp Nou.

Consequently, it might be the Champions League that stands as Madrid's more likely chance of a trophy. Indeed, the nature of this team—brilliant but flawed—is actually better suited to the structure of a cup competition, where intermittent excellence across sporadic, two-legged ties can be enough. On their day, Madrid can do damage to anyone, but in their muddled existence, they lack the qualities for the arduous marathon that is a league campaign.

Strangely, then, the hardest competition of all might be their best bet. 

Follow @TimDCollins