What's gone wrong at Real Madrid, and what needs fixing?
espn.comPublished: 4/23/2025
Summary
The team's elimination in the Champions League quarterfinals to Arsenal, 5-1 on aggregate, has unleashed a predictable storm of recrimination, soul-searching and mud-slinging in the Spanish capital. It makes you wonder: how good, or how bad, are this Real Madrid team, really? And is minor or major surgery required to make them Champions League contenders again? "Compared to last year, we've lacked a bit of collective attitude," Ancelotti said last week, after Madrid's Champions League title defence came to an end. Against Arsenal, in the first leg in London, Madrid's players covered 101.2 kilometres (62.8 miles), compared to Arsenal's 113.9km.