UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Season

[dezoel]

Erik ten Hag had 40+ injuries for Manchester United and was able to win them a trophy that season. He was also blamed for all the happenings and he took responsibility but Carlo Ancelotti has less injuries than that but was protected at all cost despite being tactically poor with  Real Madrid. I love the hypocrisy and double standards when it comes to judging managers.

Not sure if Real Madrid will remain strong even if they lose more than 4 key players, if it's only 2 it might not be a problem but 4-5 players is like half of the 11 main players and I'm sure it will greatly affect Real Madrid's performance, any top club will falter if they lose many key players even though we know Real Madrid is a pretty solid team and has many titles but they still rely on several mainstay players to remain successful in every match.

I honestly do not think the situations are same. Ancelotti showed the world he could win both la liga and UCL in two seasons, but he had injuries last year that prevented him from doing the same, still got sacked even after that.

ETH didn't show any greatness ever, no period where any player were healthy they ended up dominating. Sure they won FA cup, kudos to them, not a bad achievement when you look at their situation right now, but that doesn't mean we are going to end up with ETH getting the achievement, it is not good at all. It's clear that we are going to see how things could change for the time being if they get better. Ancelotti got sacked, ETH got sacked, which means even if your players are injured, try to do better.

[Lillominato89]

For now even Real Madrid has 5 injured defenders. like
- Antonio Rudiger
- Ferland Mendy
- Trent Alexander-Arnold
- Daniel carvajal
- Dean Hujisen

I just found out Dean Huijsen was injured, just last week I still saw him play, I looked for the exact chronology, he was injured at the Spanish national team training camp, luckily it was only a minor injury and it can be confirmed that Dean Huijsen can play for Real Madrid in the crucial La Liga match against Barcelona. But there is a possibility that he will not be able to play in the UCL against Juventus, I think Xabi is having a hard time if that is true, without Rudiger and Dean Huijsen, it is clear that Real defense is getting weaker.

Who do we blame for Real Madrid continued defensive injuries?
The manager?
The fitness coach?
The players?
The medical department?
I mean, Arnold went there to help but now has joined the injury bandwagon. That's a sad one for Real Madrid. No one wins a league with inconsistent defense line. Something has to be done.

In my humble opinion, it is difficult to find someone to blame when there are so many injuries. It could just be a period of bad luck and not necessarily a fault in training or athletic preparation!
It happens to all teams. There are years when there are not many injuries and years when injuries occur frequently.
For me, it is difficult to find someone to blame!

[Dzwaafu11]

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I didn't expect that madrid will still be faced with a defensive challenge this time of the season.because this was thesame problem that madrid faced last season so I expected that madrid would have brought in good defenders which would have been a backup plan to the already existing once in case of injuries like this. Alonso has to come up with a plan to make good use of the players at his disposal until the January windows open.

Xabi Alonso knows what to do. With the current condition of the team, I know he already has a backup plan to solve the problem, although I can’t say Real Madrid is facing a lot of problems since they are not weak or playing badly compared to last season.

I think they are still doing good, although not as expected. However, with their defence challenge right now, I don’t think it will take long before they get over it; they have an experienced manager that can make things work for them. I hope Xabi Alonso tries everything possible to find a solution to the problem before it is too late.

[Berry2d]

For the past few seasons, Real Madrid have been facing injury issues which was very serious last season leading to excessive retardation of the teams performance when needed and going trophy less when they where supposed to go beyond where they ended. After series of transfer decision made we believed the problem was over without knowing the same could happen them the season but I strongly believed that without the injury players xavi can win with flying colour

[Moreno233]

For the past few seasons, Real Madrid have been facing injury issues which was very serious last season leading to excessive retardation of the teams performance when needed and going trophy less when they where supposed to go beyond where they ended. After series of transfer decision made we believed the problem was over without knowing the same could happen them the season but I strongly believed that without the injury players xavi can win with flying colour

Real Madrid indeed have had a very tough time in the aspect of players injuries and it is not yet over. But we must not blame anyone because it is not the fault of anyone. What I can only add is that coaches ought to make provisions for cases like this by fortifying their reserve or second eleven so that whatever happen to their first team, the second team can comfortably carry on without any loosed ends. Champions league is one major distraction club faces so their second eleven should be able to sustain the team during the times of preparing for Champions League.

[Shadiq]

Xabi Alonso knows what to do. With the current condition of the team, I know he already has a backup plan to solve the problem, although I can’t say Real Madrid is facing a lot of problems since they are not weak or playing badly compared to last season.
I think they are still doing good, although not as expected. However, with their defence challenge right now, I don’t think it will take long before they get over it; they have an experienced manager that can make things work for them. I hope Xabi Alonso tries everything possible to find a solution to the problem before it is too late.

Injuries in the midst of a relatively weak defense are a very bad thing for a team, and it is very difficult for a coach to find a solution to this problem. Real Madrid has been relatively weak in defense since last season, and even the experienced coach Ancelotti failed to solve this problem and they lost very badly in the league and the UCL. I hoped that they might be able to solve it this season, but they still failed. They may have won some matches, but their defense cannot stand up to big teams. Their weak defense against big teams will be reflected. That is, this defense line is not strong enough to win the title.

[GiftedMAN]

For the past few seasons, Real Madrid have been facing injury issues which was very serious last season leading to excessive retardation of the teams performance when needed and going trophy less when they where supposed to go beyond where they ended. After series of transfer decision made we believed the problem was over without knowing the same could happen them the season but I strongly believed that without the injury players xavi can win with flying colour

The injury issues was not the only thing that affected Real Madrid last season they were having a lot of issues starting from when Mbappe joined the team the expectations was high but Ancelotti who was the manager of Real Madrid team last season could not figure out the best position for some of his players so it affected the performance of the team and injuries also made the team become weaker. They have injury issues this season but it's not as bad as it was last season so they have no excuse if they end the season not winning any trophy.

[indah rezqi]

I didn't expect that madrid will still be faced with a defensive challenge this time of the season.because this was thesame problem that madrid faced last season so I expected that madrid would have brought in good defenders which would have been a backup plan to the already existing once in case of injuries like this. Alonso has to come up with a plan to make good use of the players at his disposal until the January windows open.

There is no team that have everything perfectly balanced, there will always be some weak points in the team and as for Real Madrid, it is their defense. They spent so much money assembling good attackers which is why you see their attack better than their defense. But players like Alaba are not that bad but there is still some loopholes anyways. The defense problem can be solved by bring few strong defenders like Gabriel of Arsenal, this is what I expect Xabi Alonso to do to be able to fortify them team.

Real Madrid has a sufficient budget to strengthen its squad in all areas, but it doesn't seem reasonable for them to spend that much on players in a single season. I don't know how many players Madrid can sign in a season with their transfer policy, but I'm sure they have enough money to do so if necessary. They have a reliable squad in attack, but their defense is quite weak and of course they are working on improving it.

Real Madrid previously signed a right-back from Liverpool, but he appears to be injured and will miss several matches. In the next transfer window, I think Xabi will force management to bring in a new defender to improve their defense and Real Madrid will need to consider that if they want to compete in all competitions.

[Spaceman1000$]

I didn't expect that madrid will still be faced with a defensive challenge this time of the season.because this was thesame problem that madrid faced last season so I expected that madrid would have brought in good defenders which would have been a backup plan to the already existing once in case of injuries like this. Alonso has to come up with a plan to make good use of the players at his disposal until the January windows open.

There is no team that have everything perfectly balanced, there will always be some weak points in the team and as for Real Madrid, it is their defense. They spent so much money assembling good attackers which is why you see their attack better than their defense. But players like Alaba are not that bad but there is still some loopholes anyways. The defense problem can be solved by bring few strong defenders like Gabriel of Arsenal, this is what I expect Xabi Alonso to do to be able to fortify them team.

Going for star players have been Real Madrid stock in trade, that's why they are called the Galácticos, that is why it is also easy for them to get attackers who are world class, this style does not give opportunity for homegrown academy players to naturally grow to enter the senior team, which is why clubs like Barcelona and  Arsenal will always stand out for producing players from academy, this academic players can easily fitting to the Central defence and the midfield style of play of the club, eliminating the need to buy players here and there. Ever since Ramos and Pepe left, Madrid haven't gotten a better replacement of the duo on that defence line.

[MK-74]

For the past few seasons, Real Madrid have been facing injury issues which was very serious last season leading to excessive retardation of the teams performance when needed and going trophy less when they where supposed to go beyond where they ended. After series of transfer decision made we believed the problem was over without knowing the same could happen them the season but I strongly believed that without the injury players xavi can win with flying colour

Winning the league title might be possible, but definitely not the Champions League.
Even if Real Madrid had kept their full squad from last year, I don’t think they would have won the Champions League again, they just aren’t that powerful Real Madrid anymore.

Most big clubs don’t have true superstars now. In the past, there used to be several superstar players in one team, but now there are almost none.
Football today is all about tactics, that’s what decides matches now.

[Agbamoni]

Bayern Munich is currently in a very good form in the Champions League, and Liverpool suffered an unexpected early defeat. Galatasaray's defeat has shaken Liverpool's position in the Champions League. Liverpool is no longer considered invincible. This makes the Champions League even more exciting. Watching Liverpool play will now become even more entertaining.

Hate watching in football lol  . I thought I'm the only one who dont want to see Liverpool win any UCL game. However they are a strong team so we can only hope they lose in some games. It is very obvious they will qualify in the knockout stage, I just dont want to see them in the finals. Same thing goes to PSG and Barcelona. The worst is Manchester City.

I will prefer either Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Arsenal to win the UCL. Obviously Chelsea is not in the list. They should try qualify in the play off stage first.

[Sandra_hakeem]

Going for star players have been Real Madrid stock in trade, that's why they are called the Galácticos, that is why it is also easy for them to get attackers who are world class, this style does not give opportunity for homegrown academy players to naturally grow to enter the senior team, which is why clubs like Barcelona and  Arsenal will always stand out for producing players from academy, this academic players can easily fitting to the Central defence and the midfield style of play of the club, eliminating the need to buy players here and there. Ever since Ramos and Pepe left, Madrid haven't gotten a better replacement of the duo on that defence line.

What do you expect from a club that has over $6.7 billion as physical networth, plus other fractions and investments on the side... They signed quite a number of star players all in one deal and that shows how much they're willing to spend just get the club running with one of best players on pitch. It's more arduous to scout, discover and build a player's potential from scratch; most of those believed to have had super talents ended as one of the long list of flops in football history!

Hate watching in football lol  . I thought I'm the only one who dont want to see Liverpool win any UCL game. However they are a strong team so we can only hope they lose in some games. It is very obvious they will qualify in the knockout stage, I just dont want to see them in the finals. Same thing goes to PSG and Barcelona. The worst is Manchester City.

I will prefer either Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Arsenal to win the UCL. Obviously Chelsea is not in the list. They should try qualify in the play off stage first.

Everything you said only proves that you have zero knowledge about football/ how things work. You need to start watching football matches so you won't build a table like this next time.lol

[JiiBs]

Going for star players have been Real Madrid stock in trade, that's why they are called the Galácticos, that is why it is also easy for them to get attackers who are world class, this style does not give opportunity for homegrown academy players to naturally grow to enter the senior team, which is why clubs like Barcelona and  Arsenal will always stand out for producing players from academy, this academic players can easily fitting to the Central defence and the midfield style of play of the club, eliminating the need to buy players here and there.

That’s not far fetched from the truth. Real Madrid has got its fame from having these elite players within its ranks every season and it even gets to the point where you find some of these players wanting to play at Real Madrid and join the club from a free transfer.
As much as this is an advantage, it also constitutes a problem as, the players doesn’t really look for anyone to do the scoring but, attempt to take it on themselves and often this results in missed goal scoring opportunities.

[9ja Amaka]

With this injury list, Real Madrid’s chance of winning any title has dropped because you can’t win any title without defense, and this defensive problem has been a problem for Real Madrid for long, and I don’t know why the management was overlooking the problem and relying on old defenders that can’t stand out among their fellow defenders based on performance, they are only being hyped by Madrid fans, and now that they are all out, they are blaming the management for not having defensive depth.

The management should take the first blame even though they tried their best to bring Trent for free and Hujisen; but I expected them to have stop relying on Rudigar and Cavajal for long because they are not good enough for a bigger team like Madrid.

The coach should take any blame because he joined the team this season, he needs to make adjustment after observing the players which I think by January they should sign defenders.
The medical team actually needs to do more work to keep these players feet because I don’t see any tight competition in Laliga that will lead to such massive injury.

I think we are jumping into conclusions too early. Real Madrid is not the only thing that will face injury problem this season. It is better to face the injuries at this early stage. Then when the competition gets closer to the final round, there will be hope of key players returning back from injury.

The current players availlable for them are capable of playing better in their next games. The mindset needs to change if they want to win title. Real Madrid should not act same way Barcelona is doing. Without Raphinha and Lamine Yamal they are incapable of winning games.

[yudi09]

For the past few seasons, Real Madrid have been facing injury issues which was very serious last season leading to excessive retardation of the teams performance when needed and going trophy less when they where supposed to go beyond where they ended. After series of transfer decision made we believed the problem was over without knowing the same could happen them the season but I strongly believed that without the injury players xavi can win with flying colour

Xabi is not Xavi.
As a new recruit, Trent Arnold is also injured. All of the players currently on Real Madrid's injury list are defenders.
Last season was indeed a season in which Real Madrid was unable to do much in terms of lifting trophies. In addition to the many injuries, there were other problems that forced Ancelotti to chew gum rather than actively lift trophies.

Xabi arrived, and the club gave him what he asked for. By the eighth match of this season, Real Madrid began to show that they are approaching this season with lessons learned from last season.

[Sandra_hakeem]

The match between Atlético de Madrid and inter Milan was very boring.. I won't lie, I dozed off more than a winter penguin before successfully finishing the review ( of course I don't even watch matches like that). They didn't really have a particular pattern of play -- at least not what I could understand. Just playing back and forth, missing on very important counter attacks, switching up side and playing very defensive. The number of incomplete passes was uncountable, making the whole game less technical.

Xabi arrived, and the club gave him what he asked for. By the eighth match of this season, Real Madrid began to show that they are approaching this season with lessons learned from last season.

Even after those degrading lessons, have there been able to adjust and put in the work for an improvement? Yes .. is it more than what it was before? No; That only means no change has been observed!

[$weetne$$]

There is no team that have everything perfectly balanced, there will always be some weak points in the team and as for Real Madrid, it is their defense. They spent so much money assembling good attackers which is why you see their attack better than their defense. But players like Alaba are not that bad but there is still some loopholes anyways. The defense problem can be solved by bring few strong defenders like Gabriel of Arsenal, this is what I expect Xabi Alonso to do to be able to fortify them team.

Very true, no team has got it 100% and the case of Madrid is one which can be cited as a classic example but more often their brilliance with their attack and midfield has been able to make up for this supposed lapses such that they get results at the end of games that gives them far more than as seen with some other teams that may be suffering same case.

[yudi09]

Xabi arrived, and the club gave him what he asked for. By the eighth match of this season, Real Madrid began to show that they are approaching this season with lessons learned from last season.

Even after those degrading lessons, have there been able to adjust and put in the work for an improvement? Yes .. is it more than what it was before? No; That only means no change has been observed!

The end of the season will prove whether Xabi will deliver a trophy or not, we'll see.
The public will judge whether the title is good or not. If the team's performance so far has been good according to Xabi's desired style of play.
Are there other criteria for judging success besides the title at the end? If so, what are they?

With the players Xabi has in the current Real Madrid squad, Xabi has been smart to experiment several times, and most of those experiments have been successful.
Just look at Valverde playing in several positions to cover the team's weaknesses.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

Xabi is not Xavi.
As a new recruit, Trent Arnold is also injured. All of the players currently on Real Madrid's injury list are defenders.
Last season was indeed a season in which Real Madrid was unable to do much in terms of lifting trophies. In addition to the many injuries, there were other problems that forced Ancelotti to chew gum rather than actively lift trophies.

Xabi arrived, and the club gave him what he asked for. By the eighth match of this season, Real Madrid began to show that they are approaching this season with lessons learned from last season.

Initially the guy in charge of player fitness (Antonio Pintus) has really done a good Job and is one of the reasons behind Real Madrid's recent past successes but from the times players like Eden Hazard started getting frequent injuries and the defense players. Something is definitely not adding up. Changing coaches won't help that much but the fitness department needs to be looked into as well. It's a very delicate department that should not be ignored.

[Jewan420]

Initially the guy in charge of player fitness (Antonio Pintus) has really done a good Job and is one of the reasons behind Real Madrid's recent past successes but from the times players like Eden Hazard started getting frequent injuries and the defense players. Something is definitely not adding up. Changing coaches won't help that much but the fitness department needs to be looked into as well. It's a very delicate department that should not be ignored.

Sometimes you can have bad luck, you shouldn't blame others. Several teams have been hit by injuries at the moment, and Real Madrid is not the only one to suffer from this attack. Teams like Barcelona, ​​PSG and Arsenal also have the same problem. So do they all have flaws in the fitness department? Maybe, but it's more likely than not. No matter how good the players' fitness is, injuries will be there in every team every season, maybe more or less. It's an integral part of football, which you can't keep apart even after thousands of efforts.