Real Madrid now outside top 20 points per game in Europe
It was a weekend when a number of top teams on the continent dropped points, but while Manchester City and Barcelona’s draws with Burnley and Espanyol came as a huge surprise, Real Madrid’s result was less of a shock.
That’s not to say Levante’s late leveller through Giampaolo Pazzini didn’t ensure a massive upset in La Liga, but such has been the scale of Real Madrid’s plight that it was somewhat predictable. That’s despite the hosts sitting precariously above the relegation zone in Spain’s top-flight ahead of their meeting with the league and European champions.
The 2-2 draw on Saturday meant that just 21 games into the season, Zinedine Zidane’s men have already failed to win ten times. They’ve dropped more points already (24) than over the entirety of the previous campaign (21) and are now slipping down the list among the favourites to win the Champions League.
Indeed, ahead of an upcoming double header with Paris Saint Germain, Real Madrid will have a very unfamiliar status of being the underdogs, with Unai Emery’s men backed in as second favourites for the title with most bookies.
Things have got so bleak for los Blancos that they are now outside the top 20 in Europe’s top six leagues in terms of points per game, dropping below Roma this weekend and down into 22nd, on 1.86. That’s down from 2.45 last season by comparison.
PSG, meanwhile, rank fifth (2.58) following a routine win at Lille at the weekend, while Manchester City still top the pile (2.65) despite dropping points on Saturday, followed closely by runaway La Liga leaders Barcelona (2.64), Serie A pace setters Napoli (2.61) and Liga NOS giants Porto (2.60).
Elsewhere Juventus (2.56), Bayern (2.52), Benfica and Sporting (both 2.38) completing the top ten. Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham have all picked up points at a greater rate than Zidane’s floundering side.
If they fail to pull off what would now be an upset of their own later this month in the tournament that the club values the most then it may just be curtains for the Frenchman.
