Real Madrid close 2019 with fewest goals of the past decade
Madrid end 2019 with their lowest goal tally of the past 10 years. Without Cristiano, Los Blancos have scored 100 goals - one third less than the average.
Real Madrid bring 2019 to a close with 42 fewer goals than they ended 2018 with. This year, Los Blancos have scored 100 goals in 53 games in all competitions (an average of 1.88 goals per game). It's the club's worst figures in one calendar year in the past decade. In 2018, Madrid found the net 142 times in 60 games (an average of 2.36 per game). The problem isn't a question of creating chances - against Athletic, the team's last game of 2019, they had 29 attempts on goal (20 on target); it's more a question of not scoring with greater frequency. There have been five games in which Madrid haven't managed to score at all - the games against PSG, Atlético, Betis, Barça and Athletic...
The goals will come - Zidane
The 100 goals scored in 2019 is the lowest return of the past 10 years: 2010 (130 goals in 50 games), 2011 (167 in 60), 2012 (156 in 60), 2013 (156 in 58), 2014 (178 in 63), 2015 (140 in 55), 2016 (152 in 54), 2017 (156 in 63) and 2018 (142 in 60). Despite that, it's not an issue that Zidane is too worried about. "Goals will come eventually because we are doing things the right way. We are getting close to our opponents' goal will ease, we just need to be a little less anxious," he said earlier this month.
One of the reasons why Madrid have noticed that their goals have dried up is that it's the first whole year without Cristiano. The balance of goals scored is noticeably less than the mean figure of the decade as a whole. With Cristiano, Madrid averaged 153 goals per year - a number which has plummeted by over a third to 100. Madrid have also gone two games running without scoring (Barça and Athletic) - something that hasn't happened since March 2006 when the team didn't find the target in three consecutive matches - against Arsenal, Valencia and Betis.
Real Madrid's goals over the past decade, in calendar years
| Year | Goals | Games |
| 2019 | 100 | 54 |
| 2018 | 142 | 60 |
| 2017 | 156 | 63 |
| 2016 | 152 | 54 |
| 2015 | 140 | 55 |
| 2014 | 178 | 63 |
| 2013 | 156 | 58 |
| 2012 | 156 | 60 |
| 2011 | 167 | 60 |
| 2010 | 130 | 50 |
Peak goals under Ancelotti
With Cristiano long gone, it's been left to Karim Benzema to take up the slack. Benzema finished 2019 with 35 goals - slightly less than the 42 goals than Cristiano netted in his last complete season. Madrid hit their peak in terms of goals in 2014 when they scored a total of 178 - the year they won the Champions League, Copa del Rey, European Super Cup and Club World Cup with Carlo Ancelotti at the helm.