How has Cristiano's departure affected RM's goalscoring tally?

Cristiano became a Real Madrid legend. The Portuguese hogged the spotlight and his hunger for goal was incredible. He did not score less than 30 goals in any season. 

The striker goalscoring ability was reflected by the individual and team titles he won. Now, Karim Benzema is Madrid's main man up front. The Frenchman admitted in CR7's last few seasons at the club, he became more of a goal maker rather than a goalscorer. He got less than 20 goals in all competitions in the 2016/17 and 2017/18 campaigns. 

'ProFootballDB', 'BeSoccer's data laboratory, has analysed Real Madrid's attacking and defensive stats in recent seasons and Ronaldo's absence is very noticeable. 

Cristiano was at the Bernabeu from the 2009-10 season until summer 2018. In that time, Real always scored an average of two goals per game. In fact, they managed to get 3.2 in the 2011-12 season and 3.1 in 2014-15. 

In defence, Real Madrid had always conceded between 0.8 and 1.1 goals per game until this season. In the table below, the green worm is the average goals scored per game and the red worm is the average goals conceded per game.

In their first campaign without Cristiano Ronaldo, they dropped to 1.7 goals per game and the goals conceded increased to 1.2. That was the season the club won nothing under Lopetegui, Solari and then Zidane's return. 

Real Madrid still do not score as many goals as before and the goals are better distributed amongst the players. It is now 1.9 and on the way up. In fact, Benzema and Ramos are the top scorers while Rodrygo also appears. 

In defence, Zidane's men have shown defensive solidity which they have not shown in years. The worm graph which goes from 2000-01 until the present day does not include such a low average. It is very difficult to score against Real Madrid: just 0.7 goals against. 

In short, Real Madrid are much less free scoring since Cristiano Ronaldo's departure, but they have also improved significantly in defence.  

 

June 22, 2020