Bilbao draw sees Madrid get off to worst LaLiga start in a decade
At this juncture In the 2008/09 league campaign, Madrid had 26 points and sat in fifth place with Schuster, who was sacked shortly after.
Toiling
Real Madrid's struggle to hit the heights of recent seasons continues, and fourteen games into the current league campaign, over a third of the way through, Zinedine Zidane's side have a 57% win rate: which translates into seven wins, four draws and two defeats, mustering a total of 28 points. Los Blancos currently sit in fourth position and have the same number of points as fifth-placed Sevilla - in fact, the side from Andalusia are the next visitors to the Bernabéu (Saturday, 9 December 16:15 CET) in what is now being billed as a crunch top-four clash.
A decade ago
Madrid's start to this campaign is their worst since the 2008/09 season, when Bernd Schuster occupied the dugout at the Bernabéu. At the same juncture that season, Madrid had managed the same number of wins - eight - but had two draws and four defeats. It was preecisely in the same Matchday (14) that Sevilla came away from the Bernabéu with a 3-4 win. In the next game Madrid travelled to the Camp Nou... without the German coach.
Schuster was replaced by Juande Ramos and, although they lost that Clásico 2-0, they did stop the rot and finished runners-up behind Barça. Not since that season have Los Blancos struggled so much.
The past ten seasons - Real Madrid's points tally 14 games in:
LaLiga 2008/2009: 26 points under Bernd Schuster (5th). Final position: 2nd (78 points).
LaLiga 2009/2010: 34 points under Manuel Pellegrini (2nd). Final position: 2nd (96 points).
LaLiga 2010/2011: 35 points under José Mourinho (2nd). Final position: 2nd (92 points).
LaLiga 2011/2012: 37 points under José Mourinho (1st). Final position: 1st (100 points).
LaLiga 2012/2013: 29 points under José Mourinho (3rd). Final position: 2nd (85 points).
LaLiga 2013/2014: 34 points under Carlo Ancelotti (3rd). Final position: 3rd (87 points).
LaLiga 2014/2015: 36 points under Carlo Ancelotti (1st). Final position: 2nd (92 points).
LaLiga 2015/2016: 30 points under Rafa Benítez (3rd) Final position: 2nd (90 points).
LaLiga 2016/2017: 34 points under Zinedine Zidane (1st). Final position: 1st (93 points).
LaLiga 2017/2018: 28 points under Zinedine Zidane (4th). Final position: ?
*Bernd Schuster and Rafa Benítez were the only trainers who didn't make it to the end of the season.
