Real Madrid squad circle Manchester City clash – ‘It’s Champions League or bust’

The feeling from the Real Madrid dressing room is that they should focus their efforts on the Champions League for the remainder of the season, after slipping four points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona on Monday night. A second successive loss to Getafe off the back of defeat to Osasuna has left the Santiago Bernabeu pessimistic about their chances domestically.

Real Madrid manager Alvaro Arbeloa was keen to emphasize that the title race is not over after the match, pointing out that there were still 12 games to go. Although the Liga title is no longer in their hands, they do still face Barcelona in May, meaning they must only better Barcelona’s other results on one occasion. Meanwhile in the Champions League, Los Blancos are seven games from glory, but in theory against much stiffer opposition.

Real Madrid dressing room want focus on Champions League

Perhaps it is a symptom of the idiosyncratic nature of Real Madrid that the dressing room feel their focus should be on European glory. That is according to Cadena SER, who say one of the heavyweights at the club communicated the message ‘We’ve only got the Champions League left’. It goes hand-in-hand with the sense of ‘desolation, sadness and complete impotency’ emanating from the squad after their loss to Getafe though.

‘The Real Madrid dressing room is thin-skinned’

Another report emerging immediately after the result on Monday night called into question the character of the Real Madrid squad. Edu Aguirre told El Chiringuito (via MD), that ‘there are many people with very thin skin’ in the dressing room, and that if a more senior player raises their voice and demands more of others, then an arguement tends to ensue. The atmosphere is tense, and recriminations tend to fly, in the picture painted by Aguirre.

Leadership at Real Madrid has been something of a topic in recent years. The departures of figures such as Nacho Fernandez, Joselu Mato, Lucas Vazquez Toni Kroos and Luka Modric without clear successors has been suggested as problem for the dressing room, and the generational transition appears to be taking some time to click.