5 Games from 2015-16 Season Real Madrid Wish They Could Have Again
Upon reflection, Real Madrid's 2015-16 season has been difficult to decipher.
Right from the beginning, the current campaign has swung wildly between the extremes, consistency absent but headlines ever present.
Even with a month still to go, the season has had almost everything: Clasico despair, Clasico elation, derby nightmares, collapses, frightening thrashings, avalanches of goals, comedy in Cadiz, two managers, countless press conferences, ire at the Bernabeu, comebacks, tension and setbacks. And that's just the top of the list.
What's more, on several occasions, Madrid have looked buried: The league once looked gone, and the Champions League threatened to be similar. But now they're not. Despite the fluctuations in everything at the club, Real Madrid are still in the hunt.
And yet, because they are, certain games have retrospectively taken on added significance. Dropped points here, a loss there: They look crucial now.
Across the following slides, we look back at five games Real Madrid will wish they could have again.
Nov. 21: 0-4 vs. Barcelona
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The buildup was as feverish as ever, but for one side, it was also laced with tension.
As the season's first Clasico approached in late November, Real Madrid were trending the wrong way. Against Atletico Madrid, Rafa Benitez's men had been strangely conservative; against Celta Vigo, Keylor Navas had bailed them out; against Paris Saint-Germain, they hadn't really played; against Sevilla, they'd imploded.
Muddled, transitional, looking for an identity, Madrid were caught in an awkward middle ground between who they were and what their new manager wanted them to be. Having taken over from Carlo Ancelotti, Benitez had been attempting to reshape Los Blancos; he wanted more power, more grunt, more balance.
Yet no matter what he tried, Benitez couldn't escape the "too defensive" criticism. They wanted him to attack without thought for consequence, "they" in this case meaning the fans, media, players and president.
So against Barcelona, against every one of his instincts, he did.
And Madrid got hammered.
Dec. 2: 3-1 vs. Cadiz
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It was the night Real Madrid won but didn't really.
Down on Spain's south coast, Madrid were leading against Cadiz in the first leg of their Copa del Rey clash, but the locals didn't care. In the stands, they were smiling, laughing and singing, rejoicing in the pain that was coming their opponents' way.
In the opening minutes, Denis Cheryshev had scored to give Madrid the lead. For them, all was going well, until the murmurs and laughing started. "Benitez, check your Twitter," sang the Cadiz fans.
Cheryshev, it turned out, had been ineligible for the game through suspension, but Madrid hadn't checked. Just after half-time, the winger was subbed in a bid to limit the damage, but the damage had already been done.
Immediately, Cadiz appealed. In response, Madrid comically played the blame game.
It didn't work: They were kicked out of the cup.
Jan. 24: 1-1 vs. Real Betis
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When Real Madrid travelled to Seville in late January to take on Real Betis, a renewed optimism had surrounded them. The mood had shifted.
To begin the month, Madrid had twice given up leads against Valencia, the draw seeing Rafa Benitez added to the discarded-manager scrapheap. Turmoil was gripping the club, but then Zinedine Zidane was appointed.
An icon, a legend, Zidane brought both authority and calm. Quickly, his presence made an impact, too: Madrid won their first two games under the Frenchman by an aggregate score of 10-1.
Then came the trip to Seville. Again, Madrid were largely very good, but this time it wasn't enough.
Dogged, frenetic, backs to the wall, Betis took the lead with a screamer from Alvaro Cejudo and then defended for their lives. Against them, Madrid were intense and alert. They dominated possession. They laid a barrage on the Betis goal. Goalkeeper Antonio Adan had a blinder. Betis somehow held on.
"Fourteen Gladiators" ran the headline at local newspaper Estadio Deportivo.
For Madrid, it's a night they'd love to have again for one simple reason: That performance against that team would have won 99 games out of 100.
And this turned out to be the one.
Feb. 21: 1-1 vs. Malaga
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The picture said it all.
At La Rosaleda the whistle had just gone, and in the fading Andalusian sun, Cristiano Ronaldo sat motionless at one end of the pitch. Despondent, isolated, his shoulders slumped, Ronaldo was a picture of pain; he knew.
"Adios to another league," said Marca.
After a 1-1 draw with Malaga in February in which Madrid were awful and Malaga excellent, that wasn't strictly true; it still isn't. Thanks to recent results, Madrid still have an outside chance in La Liga, Barcelona's slip-up giving them hope.
And yet, because of those recent results, the two points dropped here suddenly look massive.
Feb. 27: 0-1 vs. Atletico Madrid
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Diego Simeone's assessment was telling.
In the aftermath of another triumph in the derby—"another" the key word here—the Atletico Madrid boss said much about both teams in the Spanish capital, even though he was only speaking about his. "We have a very defined identity," the Argentinian told reporters.
The obvious conclusion: Real Madrid didn't.
This was a day that was so emblematic of what this derby has become in recent years. Secure, robust and full of clarity, Atleti waited and waited, picking their moments, preying on Real's soft underbelly. This is what Atleti do, and here they did it again.
In response, the city's glamour outfit had nothing. There was no direction and no incision. No encompassing idea.
Atleti had driven them to insanity.
"Simeone, king of the Bernabeu," ran one Marca headline.
"Simeone and the importance of a game plan," ran another, the suggestion not hard to grasp.
