In the debate of the greatest team of all time, Real Madrid’s team in 2017 always pops up. Were they better than FC Barcelona in 2009? That’s a debate for another day, but today we will take a deeper dive into just how dominant Real Madrid in 2017 were.
Real Madrid started off the season by winning the UEFA Super Cup in the 119th minute in an extra-time classic. They then went on to win their next five games in a row, but they dramatically lost their form and drew the next four games after such a great winning streak, which is not ideal at the start of the season. They were surprisingly still top of the league table though, as their rivals couldn’t capitalise on them dropping points and slipping up themselves.
This was a wake-up call for Real Madrid, which saw them win 10 out of 11 games leading up to the first “Clásico” of the season. They scored a devastating total of 43 goals in those 11 games. In “El Clásico” they managed to salvage a point, with a header from Sergio Ramos right at the death, and a week later they won against RC Deportivo with another header from Sergio Ramos.
To finish off the first half of the season, they flew to Japan and won the Club World Cup with a stellar Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored a hattrick in the final and won the Golden Ball. This left them going into the winter break, having won 2 titles already and being top of the league table, six points clear of second place.
Once they came back in January, they lost their first game of the season against Sevilla and were knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Celta. Things got better though, as they knocked out Napoli in the round of sixteen of the Champions League (6-2 on aggregate) and were still at the top of the league at the end of March.
In the month of April, Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, in which Cristiano Ronaldo scored five goals. They won five out of the seven league games that month but lost the final “Clásico” of the season in the 92nd minute, shortening the gap between the two to only three points. Real Madrid had to win every league game from now on, knowing that FC Barcelona would not pass up on an opportunity to overtake them.
In May, they knocked out city rivals Atlético de Madrid in the Champions League for the fourth consecutive time and qualified for the final. In the last league matchday of the season, they were crowned champions in Málaga, winning the league by only three points.
They then had to face Juventus in the Champions League final in Cardiff. A historic final for Real Madrid as they came out victorious, winning the game 4-1 and playing incredibly vertical, attacking yet still effective football. They wrapped up the season having won four titles and are now regarded as one of the greatest teams to have ever played the beautiful game.
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