The collapse of Los Blancos - What has happened to Zidane's European Champions?

If in June last year you'd have told anyone that Real Madrid would be sat in fourth place in La Liga. 19 points off of the top; And running a serious risk of not qualifying for the Champions League at this point in the season, you'd have been laughed at. But that is the reality in which we currently live. The back to back European champions are having a disaster of a season, and Zinedine Zidane is facing the biggest test of his young managerial career.

From the 10 trophies available to Madrid during the previous 22 months, they've won 8 of them. An incredible feat, which underlines their dramatic fall from grace. Played off the park, in their own back yard, by Barcelona before Christmas shows just how far off the pace the Spanish champions are.

What is the reason that Madrid are falling so far behind the pack?

Real Madrid, over the past few years, have simply blown teams away. With their incredible arsenal of attacking power, the goals just haven't stopped. Until now. Starting from the back, Los Blancos have a history of attacking and goal scoring full backs, and this current generation is no different. Marcelo and Dani Carvajal were directly involved in 16 league goals last season. This time around however, they've been involved in two at the mid point of the campaign. This is a huge part of Zidane's fire power that simply isn't firing, and this isn't a problem focused solely on the full backs.

During the 2016/2017 season four Madrid players his double figures in the league, Cristiano Ronaldo unsurprisingly top scoring with 25 league goals. However, remarkably, not a single player has scored more then four goals in the league after 18 games. More incredibly however, should this trend continue, Madrid will end their season without a single player hitting double figures in the league. During their title winning season last time around they averaged 2.8 goals per game, this season however that stat has fallen to 1.9 goals per game.

Garath Bale's injury problems have been a huge loss for Zidane, as the Welshman does seem to be firing more often then not. In his last 13 games in all competitions, Bale has been involved in 11 goals. But due to injuries the winger has not been able to maintain a place in the team.

Even the seemingly invincible Cristiano Ronaldo is feeling the strain. Well, domestically he is. In the Champions League the Portuguese star set a new competition record, with nine goals scored in six group stage games. But that tally is more then double what he's managed on Spanish shores this season so far. With the likes of Luka Modric and Toni Kroos in midfield, the chances have been there, but the usually reliable forward has been off the mark. According to Opta Stats, Ronaldo has had 17 clear cut goal scoring opportunities this campaign, and he has only managed to convert four of them. A conversion rate of 2.5% is perhaps the most damming stat for the current Ballon D'or winner.

The players can feel that something simply isn't right within the club. Madrid veteran and fan favourite Marcelo spoke out this week, saying how things simply 'having been happening' for Real Madrid. Following another poor result at the weekend, a 1-0 loss to Villarreal, the Brazilian full back said it felt as if they were sinking.

"It's one of the worst situations I've experienced here." Marcelo said, the full back signed for Real Madrid over 10 years ago, and has played over 300 times for the club.

"It's how it looks from the outside - we're sad, we're angry and we feel like we're sinking."

The man at the helm Zidane has also been coming under fire, and was at a loss for words following the defeat at the weekend.

"We don't deserve this, we think we played the ball well but the balls just didn't want to go in for us. I can't explain why." The Frenchman said, after originally describing the situation as 'fu**** up'.

Could Zidane be to blame for Real's slump? The legendary midfielder has been handed a legendary managerial career on a silver platter. Gifted one of the best squads of a generation and one of the best players on all time in Cristiano to lead the line. Madrid's former number five has seemingly allowed his talented group of players to play with freedom so far, and while the stars have fired leading up to now, his inexperience as a manager is now being shown for the world to see.

A lack of, or a failure to implement, a plan B for his side has seen Zidane's men look washed out of ideas on the pitch of late. And it is becoming increasingly likely that should PSG topple Real Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 (which is looking more likely as the days go by) Zinadine will have over seen his final games in charge of his Madrid side.

The pressure is one. For the players and for the manager. The Spanish giants have registered their worst start to a season in over a decade, and the results simply just aren't coming in. Reports over the last couple of days are suggesting that for the first time since his initial world record signing, Madrid are open to the idea of selling Cristiano Ronaldo. If that doesn't show the size of the problem within the Spanish capital I don't know what does.