Real Madrid Schedule 2019-20: La Liga Fixtures Released

Real Madrid will open their 2019-20 La Liga campaign with an away clash against Celta Vigo at Balaidos on August 18.

The schedule for the upcoming season was announced on Thursday.

The closing fixtures were also released, with Real set to play Leganes on the final day of the season:

The first Clasico of the campaign against Barcelona is scheduled for October 27 at the Camp Nou, with the return match at the Santiago Bernabeu scheduled for March 1. 

The 2018-19 La Liga campaign was one of the worst in Real's recent history as they finished third.

They never launched any kind of title challenge, recorded their lowest points tally (68) since 2001-02 and netted fewer goals (63) than in any season since 1999-2000.

Two managers paid the price for Real's failures, with both Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari being sacked during the campaign.

A quick look at the tables from the last five seasons in La Liga reveals that, on average, La Liga champions have accrued between 91 and 92 points in a campaign.

Even if Barcelona's successful tally of 87 points from last season is used as a benchmark, Real will likely need to improve by around 20 points if they are to win the title again in 2019-20.

An increase in goals will go a long way to resolving that.

Cristiano Ronaldo's exit to Juventus last summer had a huge impact on Real's proficiency in front of goal:

Already this summer, Real have made moves to resolve that by signing Luka Jovic and Eden Hazard:

Another area in which Real can improve is in fixtures against Barcelona.

In 2018-19, they played their fierce rivals four times and did not win once. They lost both their La Liga clashes against the Blaugrana, including a 5-1 drubbing at the Camp Nou.

If manager Zinedine Zidane can somehow reverse those results in 2019-20, that would create a 12-point swing towards Real.

But Barca were not the only side Real lost to last term. In fact, they lost a remarkable 12 matches in La Liga:

Five of those defeats came at home, to Real Betis, Barca, Girona, Real Sociedad and Levante.

Real need to make the Bernabeu a fortress again if they are to be league title challengers in 2019-20.