Teams are judged on their trophies and what they have done in recent times. Real have not been a great team for a while now. There champions league record of the last 7 years proves this. Man Utd and Barca have been the best 2 teams in the Cl and stats back this up.
Most of the other Spanish clubs aren't that good at the moment to be honest. Valencia are third in their league and they've hardly covered themselves in glory in the CL this season. And Sevilla didn't even make it to the group stage. Villareal are going ok in the Europa League, but the rest of La Liga is pretty bad right now.
Real Madrid's record in the Champions League over the last few seasons has been poor so it is not just a case of a brilliant Barcelona making them look poor in La liga. The other Spanish sides have also been poor in the Champions League the last few seasons. If Real Madrid are ahead of everyone else in World football like Robin_Van_Fiberglass said then why have been useless in Europe for the past 7 years? They are not ahead of everyone else, they really are not that good.
Real Madrid are a good team. Great in attack but have defensive weaknesses that can be exploited - just like Barcelona I may add.
We aren't talking about 7 years ago, we are talking about now... They have Mourinho now, failure is not an option for him. It goes without saying how much of a difference he will make.. If he doesn't win a trophy this season, he will next (provided he's there). They aren't the best in the world. They aren't even as strong/dependable as his Inter side of last year. But they are a good side. If anything, your point about them being poor in recent CL seasons, shows how far they have come in a season. Lyon, who beat them last season, Were hammered 3-0 (4-1 agg.) by Real. Real also have the best defensive record in this season's CL. Mourinho's speciality is building a strong defence to enable a strong and effective counter-attacking side.. They don't play pretty football, but then, neither did Inter last year..
They are a good team but not a great team and certainly not the 2nd best in the World. This season they have hardly looked great in the league (I'm talking about when they have faced all other La Liga teams and not just Barcelona before anyway starts going on about that again) and they have reached this far in Europe by beating a decent but hardly great Lyon side and a team who are 5th in England, who had never played in the Champions League before and who had to play 75 minutes of the 1st leg with 10 men. I have not seen anything from this Real Madrid team to suggest that they are a great side. They rely heavily on Ronaldo and often when he doesn't play they lose. They are definitely not the 2nd best team in the World and there is nothing to suggest that they are, sorry.
Okay, fair enough, your opinion... I take it you don't rate last year's Inter side either, after all they played in a "weak" Serie A. Who are the second best team in the world then?
I would say that Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal are all better than Real Madrid and the 2nd best team in the World is out of them 3.
Disagree with Chelsea, This year they have lost the plot..Spurs would have even given Chelsea a close two-legged tie this season. And I'm sure people living in Spain have watched United play unconvincingly, and have thought we aren't good either... I guess we will have to wait and see what happens if we meet them in the final. So, did you rate Inter last year?
I suppose we need to wait until the end of the season to decide this, if RM win CL and claw back the League they will be considered in a different light. Same with MU if the win FA Cup and CL. As far as Arsenal and Chelsea go I don't personally think they are better than Madrid at the moment.
I mean on their day Chelsea could beat pretty much anyone as could Man Utd or Arsenal. Inter last season weren't the best team in the World but they deserved to win the Champions League because of their performances and approaches to games. They defended very well and had a good attacking threat in Milito. Rafa Benitez really ruined Inter.
Don't get me wrong I don't think La Liga is amazing or anything, I just think that its weaknesses are vastly overstated. Almost all of their teams have more footballing ability than a team as good as Everton for example, and while footballing ability is not everything obviously, it does show that talent is probably more widespread in that league compared to ours.
Mr Nice There are so many teams that could use that 'on our day we can beat anyone argument', the real question is whether they would be likely to win if both teams play to their full potential.
I agree that talent is more widespread, but tactical awareness seems to be much lower - unless they have a very astute manager like Mourinho, most Spanish teams tend to underperform when matched against similar quality opponents in Europe. Even Barca against Inter last year and Chelsea the year before showed very little awareness of how they could switch their tactics to yield a better result, and were damn lucky to get past Chelsea in 2009. I agree that talent and technique are very important, but so is tactical awareness and versatility, and for me football is as much about playing to your strengths and exploiting your opponents weaknesses as it is about having the highest level of skill.
I don't know if you could call them a "great" team yet. Brazil in 1970, Holland in 1974, France in 1998, the Busby Babes, Liverpool in the early 80s, United around the turn of the millenium, Milan during the Rijkaard, Gullit, van Basten days, the current Barca team: they are/were all great sides. I don't think you can call a team who hasn't won anything a great team. Very good, potentially great maybe.
