Relying on Ronaldo
Without Bale and Benzema, 'Los Blancos' have developed a real Cristiano-dependency.
Real Madrid are in the hands of their star more than ever. The 50-goal striker - his tally from all competitions so far this season - is practically the only recognised hitman in the team's most important game so far this season.
Cristiano will run onto the pitch at the Bernabéu without his usual partners in crime. The BBC will not be dominating the Bernabéu airwaves against Atlético tonight. 'Los Blancos' will be missing a lot of goals with Bale and Benzema out - a total of 39 between them. Considering that the team has scored a total of 132 goals over the season, Carlo knows that he'll be without 30 percent of his team's potency.
The current top-scorer, and leader in the golden boot race, won't be missing the game though, and carries a lot of the responsibility for Real's hopes of getting through to the Champions League semi-finals. With Bale and Benzema out of the equation, the Portuguese has contributed 53 percent of Real Madrid's goals. The 50 goals that he's banged in comfortably beat the 43 that the rest of his teammates have scored. 12 other players have scored for the 'Merengues', with James's 14 strikes standing out from the crowd.
The belief in Cristiano is total. The Portuguese is ready to heave the rest of the team on his back and drag them through a game in which he knows he's needed more than ever. CR7 is going into it in electric form, banging the goals in for fun once again. The fact that the Portuguese has notched up nine goals in his last five games is conclusive evidence that he's back to his very best.
It's not the first time this season that Cristiano will play without his regular strike partners. He already did so against Levante, and more recently against Eibar. With Bale and Benzema out, he did well in both those games, scoring two goals against Levante and one against Eibar. Real Madrid won both games in the end.
The team are even more dependent on the goal-scoring exploits of the BBC in the Champions League. 'Los Blancos' have scored 21 goals in the nine games they've played, and the attacking trident have scored 16 of them. CR7 has scored eight, Benzema has six, and Bale has two. Real also have solitary efforts from Marcelo, Arbeloa, Medrán, James and Suchy, who scored an own goal. So with Bale and Benzema out of the picture, Ronaldo has scored 61 percent of the rest of the team's goals in Europe.
Read more: Real Madrid: Relying on Ronaldo - MARCA.com (English version)