Real Madrid’s Trophyless Era: A Short-Lived Crisis or Full Blown Free Fall? | OneFootball

Another season without a trophy saw disappointment turn into disaster for Real Madrid. And as they try to right the ship, it’s clear that the club that once defined the future of football is looking to the past for answers. 

The classic white Real Madrid jersey is ubiquitous.

At pickup games, amateurs try to emulate the style of Kylian Mbappe or Jude Bellingham for that one fleeting hour on the pitch. The iconic badge is forever synonymous with trophies, even after a second straight season that failed to produce a major one.

A one-trophy-per-season expectation may seem a bit much for most clubs, but then again most clubs aren’t Real Madrid. Being a fan of a club of this caliber isn’t just about support, but also setting a high standard. Los Blancos’ history speaks for itself, and any fan, player, or club executive will tell you that’s what the goal is year in and year out.

For years, teams who played against Madrid were terrified before kickoff even started. No lead was safe, especially in a two-leg Champions League tie. The “black magic” aura around the club made it feel inevitable, and stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcelo, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, and Karim Benzema racked up trophy after trophy, including three straight UCL titles.

That’s what makes a trophy-less season feel senseless, especially when it’s the second in a row. While on paper, Madrid looked like a team built to win, in the face of adversity, cracks throughout the club’s foundation began to show.

Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images

The vibes heading into the 2025-26 season were quite high. The Galacticos 3.0 era was in full effect, with club legend Xabi Alonso coming in to replace Carlo Ancelotti as manager. Mbappe, Bellingham, and Vinicius Jr. helmed one of the most fearsome attacks in all of club football, and Trent Alexander-Arnold was a headline addition. Madrid were favorites to win all kinds of trophies no matter where you found your method for betting, and the disappointment of the previous season was positioned to be an afterthought. The club seemed too big to fail, right?

Wrong. Alonso barely made it past the change of calendar and was fired in January. Two days later, under new manager Alvaro Arebola, the club crashed out of the Copa del Rey round of 16 against La Liga 2 side Albacete. A quarterfinal exit in the Champions League and second-place finish in the La Liga table meant that Real Madrid would once again go without a trophy.

All of that alone would spell another down season, but what was simply disappointment unraveled into an out-and-out disaster in the final weeks of the season. Media speculation of the fractured relationship between Mbappe and Vinicius turned into a frenzy.

A petition calling for the removal of the French superstar reached over 70 million signatures. Mbappe was routinely booed by fans towards the end of the 2025-26 campaign, and the move to his dream club was clearly becoming something of a nightmare.

Adding to the drama, a fight between Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni ended with the former being hospitalized with a concussion. Tension in the locker room was at an all time high, and while at any other club, this internal pressure would remain behind closed doors, at Madrid, any sort of problem ends up making international headlines.

Now, as the whirlwind of the club season gives way to a World Cup summer, fans and players alike will receive a much-needed respite from all the drama. But while the 2026 World Cup is probably the best thing that could’ve happened for this club, the issues won’t magically disappear come this August.

Dynasties often take years to build. Finding the right combination of players to succeed under the right manager is no easy task. Madrid has learned this the hard way in the past, with the original Galacticos that included Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo Nazario, and David Beckham infamously failing to live up to the impossible expectations thrust upon them.

Now, it seems like history is repeating itself.

Madrid was eventually able to right the ship in the late 2000s with the arrivals of CR7, Benzema, and later Bale, but it’s clear that the Madridistas are lacking patience. Frustration over the club signing big names rather than the right fits — perhaps best exemplified by Mbappe — have fans on edge. Two down years in a row is simply not acceptable by their standards.

Photo by Lars Baron/Bongarts/Getty Images

Whether this is a short-term crisis or a full-blown free fall is yet to be seen, but the upcoming campaign will do plenty to tip the scale in either direction. Reports of Jose Mourinho signing on as the club’s next manager has led to polarizing reactions from fans, with one half rejoicing at the “special one’s” return, while the other is dubious of his recent credentials.

Mourinho is certainly no stranger to controversy, and often creates chaos within the clubs he manages, for better and worse. While he’s won several trophies in his various sojourns with different clubs since his departure from the Spanish capital, the last league title he won was with Madrid in 2011-12, and his last UCL trophy came in 2010 with Inter Milan.

But regardless if you see Mourinho’s comeback as a positive or negative, it’s become evident that the club that once defined the future of football is now looking into its past for the answers. And in the ever-evolving world of the sport, looking backwards rarely brings in promising results.

All facets of the club will see the upcoming season as yet another disappointment if Mourinho is unable to lead the club to one of the big three trophies: La Liga, Champions League, or Copa del Rey. And while that may seem harsh, that’s what comes with being royalty.

At Real Madrid, winning isn’t an accomplishment, it’s the expectation. The moment that disappears, the silence echoes louder than any celebration ever could.