Luka Modric: Real Madrid Players Failed to Replace Cristiano Ronaldo's Goals

Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric has said the club's superstars have failed to plug the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo.             

The Portuguese icon left Los Blancos last summer for Juventus, triggering a decline in form for the UEFA Champions League holders.

According to Ben Hayward of the Evening Standard, Modric said the Spanish giants have found it "almost impossible" to replace their former hitman while speaking ahead of Madrid's second-leg match against Ajax at the Santiago Bernabeu in the Champions League round of 16 on Tuesday:

"Any team would miss Cristiano and finding a replacement for him is almost impossible. When he left, the club intended for other players to cover his function. For the load to be spread among the other players in attack and that's not easy. Cristiano scored 50 goals (per season) and you can't find a player out there who scores that many. Perhaps some of the other players had to take a step forward and not score 50, but 20... I'm not going to name names, but two or three players to score 20, 15 or 10 goals. We don't have that and that's our biggest problem this year."

Paul White/Associated Press

Madrid are in good shape to make it to the quarter-finals of the competition with a 2-1 lead, but their domestic form has evaporated this season.

In La Liga, Los Blancos are stuck in third, 12 points behind leaders Barcelona and five behind neighbours Atletico Madrid.

Julen Lopetegui was dismissed as manager after a handful of games at the start of the campaign, allowing reserve coach Santiago Solari to take charge of the first team.

Ronaldo's absence has been pivotal. Gareth Bale has been unable to fill the gap left by his attacking partner, and Real have quickly fallen into a full-blown transition as a result.

Per Hayward, Modric added the club must quickly understand what they need to do to move past Ronaldo's departure: 

"Cristiano is not here, but we can't be complaining about that for 10 years. The club has put its faith in other players like Bale, Karim [Benzema], Mariano, Vinicius [Junior] who is doing really well... Sometimes things don't work out as you want, but the way to solve that is by working. Madrid will always be at the top. Sometimes things don't go well, but the team will be back."

Claude Paris/Associated Press

Staying in the Champions League will keep Madrid fans muted, but they will meet any type of failure in the tournament with vocal derision at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Solari could find it difficult to maintain his tenure into next term, and he will need to oversee a strong finish to the campaign to keep long-term control.

Replacing Ronaldo was always going to be a mammoth task. Real president Florentino Perez is yet to play his strongest hand by signing a world-class forward who can take the weight of expectation at the club.

Madrid will never accept being behind both Barca and Atleti in Spain. It would be shocking not to see extensive and costly activity occur in the capital during future transfer windows.