FanView: Why a 50-Year-Long Trend Means Real Madrid Cannot Be Underestimated in the Champions League

14 points behind Primera Division leaders Barcelona, and crashing out of the Copa del Rey at the quarter-final stage to mid-table flounders Leganes; it has been a bitterly disappointing domestic campaign for Real Madrid thus far. 

While results have improved in recent times - only tasting defeat once in their last 10 outings across all competitions - the mentality, or rather, perceived arrogance, within Los Blancos' camp is still a significant cause for concern for Zinedine Zidane and Florentino Perez. 

13 La Liga clashes remain this term for the Spanish capital side before their squad disbands and the majority head to Russia for the FIFA World Cup. And despite, mathematically, at least, Los Vikingos still being a part of this year's title race, their hopes of any success rest upon conquering Europe for the third successive time - something that has not been achieved since Dettmar Cramer's Bayern Munich lifted the European Cup in 1974, 75 and 76. 

Real Madrid, themselves, have achieved such a feat only once, as Miguel Munoz continued the legacy left by Luis Carniglia and Jose Villalonga Llorente to secure Los Merengues' fifth straight year of continental dominance in 1960. 

However, while rising above all else with such regularity may well be an anomaly, Los Blancos securing Champions League success alongside domestic failings is not, as only once in the past 59 years have both Primera Division and European supremacy come hand in hand at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

June 3, 2017. Zidane watched on as his side's majestic second-half display dismantled Juventus to break an over half-century-long curse. However, 12 months on, there will be no such repeat. 

GABRIEL BOUYS/GettyImages

But that does not mean Los Vikingos will not extend their love affair with the competition in Kiev come May. 

Aside from last season's heroics, the previous eight times the gleaming, all-silver trophy has nested its temporary home on the Paseo de la Castellana, Real Madrid have witnessed Barcelona (58/59, 59/60, 97/98, 15/16), Atletico Madrid (65/66, 13/14), Valencia (01/02), and Deportivo La Coruna (99/00) all be crowned champions of Spain in the build-up.

PAU BARRENA/GettyImages

So, although the Primera Division may well be ruled by those in Catalonia this summer, much like 2016, it cannot be ruled out that Europe's grandest tournament will not also conclude in the same vein as that of the same year.