Last year’s squad minus Ronaldo.... plus over 100 million of investment in Odriozola, Vinicius, Courtois and Reguilon. You’re damn right it’s not the same squad, if Ronaldo stayed they’d be a lot better than they were last season. Finally some offensive help in Vinicius, capable defensive depth and a better goalkeeper. They’d currently be the big favourites to win the Champions League especially with the draw they got so far, Florentino decided to throw away those great odds of winning a fourth CL in a row to build for the future.
I don’t care about the difference in points. Ronaldo missed games last year too, refs and luck played their part, lack of motivation was a big factor, etc. watching them play is enough, it’s one thing to have a poor league campaign after winning the double when you have a great possibility of winning the CL. It’s another to follow a disappointing league season with an even worse one while not winning the CL. Everyone expected Madrid to be worse this season but everyone also expected them to get a higher points total than last season...
The same form that cost Marcelo his place in the starting eleven this season was exactly the same form he was showing last season for most of it while people called him the best left back on the planet.
It's absurd debating with you in anything related to Ronaldo, they invested in Odriozola who barely plays (700 minutes in La Liga), Vinicius (who plays in Ronaldo's spot) and Courtois, who isn't an upgrade on Navas. Even if he stayed, 95% of his time he'd play with the same players he did last season, only change would be Reguilon, and he isn't better than Marcelo last season.
Maybe you’re getting used to abnormalities but for a player to be the main reason a team wins a competition doesn’t mean he has to win them every game.
Jesus, you've been against that reasoning everytime Barcelona passed a leg and a certain someone didn't score, now you're going to use it as the excuse?.
Marcelo was the best LB of the season because who would be it then?. He wasn't brilliant in La Liga, but he scored a goal in a key moment vs PSG, another vs Juve and another vs Bayern, on top of two assists in the final. If a pure scorer losing the league and being outscored domestically can be crowned as the best in the world for UCL performances, then surely it isn't that weird that the same measurement is used with Marcelo?.
I don't like conceeding victories to Real Madrid players over our Barcelona counterparts, but reading you talk like this about Marcelo while pushing the "Alba is the best LB in the world" topic just because it fits your story is one of the most aggravating things I've read in any forum. It's like comparing what Semedo offers vs prime Dani Alves, a Dragster vs a Formula 1