I mean, when people start putting people into groups of winners and losers, why would you expect it to be based on facts? It's pseudo-insider BS from start to finish.

I was joking

So, does Bale get the start?

Three flight from Liverpool to Kiev have been cancelled today as Kiev airport couldn't provide landing slots.

Got to feel for the supporters who were booked on them, no way they'll be able to make alternative arrangements at this late stage.

vamo caralho

Do you think Ronaldo demands to walk slightly in front of the people he's with every where he goes or just in airports?

The other ones he's with are demanding that, as in "lead us, King".

Dark navy suit ... White trainers

So long as he scores a hattrick, he can wear whatever he wants

A conspicuous pair of shoes he might be contractually obliged to wear

I know very little about La Liga but Madrid appear to have come third in a two horse race. Based on this and Plop being excellent, I am predicting a Plop victory, which would be terrible, but then it won't be a league title so they can **** off.

Come on you Madrids, or whatever the **** your nickname is.

They care a lot more about the CL than a la liga title. They’re built for it and I don’t watch them in la liga but I assume they adjust lineups to rest for la liga while having their best lineups ready for CL.

the shoes and everything are staying no matter what

RM care about winning the league, except the streak we have in the CL right now is much more important than one league title. We are going to win league titles, but idk if we'll ever play 4 CL finals in 5 years again.

That doesn't mean RM didn't want to win the league as well, but they had an awful start, played really bad, had key injuries, Ronaldo was suspended for 5 games and all of a sudden we were a ton of points behind Barcelona in October or something. You have very low chances to come back from that, especially with Barcelona doing so well in the league in all these years. There was no way we were coming back from that, nor Barcelona dropping so many points, so it was pointless to play @ 100% against Betis when you're 15 pts behind, while you can still make a run in the CL.

Barca won the league fair and square and RM weren't good enough, they will never throw away the league. Copa del Rey, yes, finally, but not the league lol.

This "RM is built for the CL instead of La Liga" seems like the biggest revisionist history crap in a while. Maybe they focused on the CL once the league was lost in September. But generally, they've been a top 3 side itw, have enjoyed a healthy amount of luck on their side in the CL (as any team would need in order to have that much success), but mostly not been good enough to beat Barca in La Liga.

they can pretty much slide into the top 3 no matter what they do though. it's a 3 man race every year where they normally get 2nd.

everyone sleeping on Toni Kroos, don't even hear him mentioned or just barely in most previews.

Overheard at the butcher's a month or so ago - "the league is what keeps us from getting bored in between CL games".

That's pretty much the Madrid based Madrid fan's point of view. The league is silliness to keep in shape. We dominate Europe.

Yes. Zidane goes for attitude. That's why he loves Asensio and Vazquez and doesn't think so much of Isco. They're winners. Isco wants to look good. Recently Bale's been playing in meaningless league games like he wants to be in the CL final. Also there's Florentino to think about.

But not Spain.

the point is "they got 3rd is weak" is not really true when it comes to RM. they're clearly not weak at all and they love the CL.

Obviously. They're favourites for a reason. But explaining away their league struggles by pointing to the CL is way too convenient. Makes it sound like they could've won all the La Liga titles if they just weren't so focused on the CL. Not even rits is claiming that.

they're the best team in the best league basically 5 years running. They've won La Liga 3 times in the last 10 years, they could definitely win 4 in 5 years in the CL. Maybe the CL fits their style better than La Liga. I don't know enough about Soccer to say or maybe their better at the high variance fest CL vs the less variance La Liga.

Most likely explanation is it's easier to sunrun in a tournament than a 38 games league

doing that 4 times in 5 years is quite an accomplishment though although like La Liga games, some CL games are gimmes.

Hot take: While Real Madrid are a strong experienced team, a very important part of their success in this competion in the last few years is simply luck.