Terraces, Sofas and Screens: Can Real Madrid Win LaLiga and Champions League?

Every year, the same process happens for fans of most football teams: Pre-season is filled with optimism and expectation, which is slowly but surely eroded as the heights aren't quite scaled, the targets aren't quite met and improvements aren't quite seen. The vast majority of clubs seem to be continually building toward something they cannot achieve.

Somewhere along the line, it seems to have been lost on pundits, critics and analysts that in any one competition, only one club can emerge successful. If four great clubs battle in a league, or eight fight it out for a cup, have all three (or seven) who do not win truly failed?

Lower down in league tables, some fight for continental competitions, a higher league placing or simply for survival. Some have to be disappointed. Only a small handful can achieve their aims, as in turn it means others cannot.

The lines are blurred between progress and stagnation now with the emphasis on success, yesterday among football followers...but being, as we are, at the start of a new season in Europe's main leagues, optimism should still be high for many.

At Real Madrid, the optimism burns as fiercely as at any other club, but the expectation is at times seemingly above even that.

What's good enough?

Winning games isn't enough. Being popular has to be taken into account, too, with Los Blancos. Positive results without entertaining football have more than once been reason enough to cull a managerial team, while even lifting significant silverware hasn't been enough to save the likes of Vicente del Bosque, Fabio Capello and Carlo Ancelotti from being sacked.

Just a year ago, Rafael Benitez was appointed head coach. He departed Real Madrid in January, sacked after 25 games in charge, having recorded the best win percentage of his entire career.

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Benitez was unbeaten in his first 14 matches as boss of the first team, with just one goal scored against his outfit in the opening eight competitive matches. Most clubs would kill for that sort of record, and many managers would sell their club captain to guarantee that sort of impact at a new team.

But it wasn't enough; the style of play, the team selections, the injury worries and the perceived lack of goalscoring impact were all put down to the manager's methods and relationship with the dressing room. Two of Benitez's last five games in charge ended in 8-0 and 10-2 wins for Los Blancos.

Not enough.

Real Madrid were already four points adrift of the leaders and placed third in LaLiga when Real dismissed Benitez and brought in Zinedine Zidane. What little enthusiasm and optimism had been in place when the Spaniard was appointed had deteriorated by the time of his departure, and Zidane's arrival heralded an upswing in momentum, form, happiness and just about every other immeasurable component which makes for a squad dynamic—not to mention respect from the terraces.

Having played for so long at Real Madrid, Zidane will be under no illusions about what the supporters expect, but winning two trophies in less than a year gives him breathing space to continue developing.

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With success, of course, comes only more expectation, though—and if they are usually through the roof at Real Madrid anyway, now they can only be in the stratosphere as the club bids to haul back Barcelona's recent monopoly of domestic trophies.

The fans

Fans—at Real Madrid or elsewhere—can change their views dependent on the result of a single game at times, such are the constraints and expectations under which top-end managers and players feature now.

But overall? Feelings are positive, overwhelmingly so when speaking directly to supporters, both in Spain and from further afield.

Madrid-based season-ticket holder Luisito Moro placed the positivity and probability for success this season firmly in the hands of the manager and the presence of former academy players in the first-team squad. Inaki Angulo suggested Real Madrid can win everything this year—a treble as Barcelona achieved in 2014/15, plus the FIFA Club World Cup.

"

@karlmatchett Puede ganar todo. Tiene plantilla amplia y versátil y un líder en el banquillo sin miedo a tomar decisiones.

— Iñaki Angulo ® (@inakiangulo) September 13, 2016"

Again Zidane was cited as a major reason. "He's unafraid to make big decisions and shows leadership from the bench," Angulo believes, and he also gives credence to the big squad at the manager's disposal playing a key role later in the season.

It's a similar view elsewhere, at least in terms of more silverware, but not everybody is yet convinced that Zidane is the deciding factor. Miran, a Madrid fan and a writer at the Managing Madrid supporters' website, suggested that the experience in the squad and quality throughout will be the defining factors, rather than the head coach:

"

@karlmatchett He's a good man manager, but as a tactician he does nothing for me. The players' lack of professionalism under Rafa and then

— Miran S. (@therealbozz) September 13, 2016"

"

@karlmatchett the diffidence under Zidane is far more telling. They're just actually trying now. Tactically it's pretty similar.

— Miran S. (@therealbozz) September 13, 2016"

That draws up a different question: If Zidane's man management rather than his tactical choices lead to Real Madrid challenging for honours, is it not still Zidane who makes the difference? The same opinion leads to a different conclusion for supporter Pablo.

"

@karlmatchett results to see how strong or fragile this state is.

— MerengueDomination (@Pablo117_RMA) September 13, 2016"

Put to a wider vote, not necessarily among all Madrid fans but from many who watched the opening round of the UEFA Champions League group-stage games, it's nowhere near a consensus that Los Blancos can become the first team to retain the trophy in the post-European Cup era.

"

Left it late last night,but after seeing Real Madrid & other #UCL contenders in action, can they retain title? #RMCF

— Karl Matchett (@karlmatchett) September 15, 2016"

The scribes

Perhaps supporters are naturally inclined to be overly positive—why wouldn't they be? That's part of the nature of support, after all. So what do those who look on with a more detached or rounded view think of Zidane's team and its trophy chances?

Speaking to three journalists from different regions of the world about the likelihood of silverware in LaLiga or the Champions League, the separate views were unequivocal in their similarity: Domestic success is where they must look to push hardest.

David Ramos/Getty Images

Based in Spain and covering LaLiga for Yahoo, Andrew Gaffney believes that a decision will have to be made on where to focus most of their attentions. "I personally can't see them winning both competitions. Instead, later on in the season, they'll be forced to make one a priority. I know there's a special connection between the club and the Champions League but think should they still be in LaLiga's title race; domestic success is of a higher priority this term."

From a little further afield, Sonja Nikcevic watches and reports on much in the world of European football for International Sports Press Association and UEFA.com and believes that the lottery of continental competition stands as a barrier of its own.

"As it stands, the club has a bigger chance of winning LaLiga," she said. "They've matured under Zidane and can go for the long haul, winning low-key matches where they are not chasing but defending points, they have better squad depth (finally a sub for Benzema!) and so on. Winning the Champions League, as Real themselves showed last year, is as much a matter of playing the right rival at the right time as it is of experience and good football. And we all know how (impossibly) hard it is to do it two years in a row."

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Stateside-based Carlo Valladares keeps a keen eye on Spanish football and believes Real Madrid are already showing enough signs that the title will be forthcoming—but also gives them a better chance at retaining the Champions League.

"I think LaLiga is going to be theirs this year. They have too much quality, and Zidane's side look immensely balanced, unlike Barca. If they come undone it'll be due to complacency domestically, or two bad results against Barca. On the continent, a draw with Barca or Bayern Munich could prove too much, but they've shown that they have no qualms flipping identities and playing conservative if required."

There are few seasons when Real Madrid aren't at least in the mix for titles, even if their overall level has been viewed as being a rung or two below the cream of the European crop. The fight for silverware on all fronts will be a furious one and will undoubtedly go right to the wire.

But the fans' optimism, this season, is well-founded.

Two trophies in under a year is an impressive start for Zidane, but the Club World Cup is only three months away, and many are convinced, even outside the fanbase, that at least one more success can be celebrated come the end of May 2017.

Follow @karlmatchett