What Can We Expect From Real Madrid in 2011?

Will 2011 finally be the year when Real Madrid win the elusive 10th Uefa champions league title? Will the 2 year dominance by arch rivals FC Barcelona which has left the club trophy less for the last 2 years finally come to an end? Or will it just be another disappointment for president Florentino Perez and the fans?

Saying that expectations are always high at the Santiago Bernabeau is like saying that the aim in football is to score more goals than their rivals - unnecessary and obvious! But still none the less expectations are high, and why not. Other than a horrific 5-0 loss at the camp nou, Real Madrid have been in stunning form this season. Second in the league, through to the last 16 in the champions league and all but set for the semi final of the copa del ray after a magnificent 8-0 win in the first leg over lavente.

Another major reason for the high expectations has to be the appointment of the special one. Jose Mourinho, who rated this year as a 11/10 after winning the treble with former club Inter Milan earlier in the season, comes to Real Madrid having won every competition he has ever taken part in as a manager. Add to that the fact that he hasn't lost a home game since 2002, the that he has won the league in three countries and his incredible record in the champions league - which he has won twice and made the semi final on two other occasions.

So with expectations as high as ever - or probably even higher with Jose Mourinho and the massive investments in excess of €300 million over the last two years - what can we expect from Real Madrid in 2011.

Let's start with the transfer market. Its a well known fact that Florentino Perez is not a fan of January signings, although in the last few years Real have made some key signings like Gonzalo Higuain, Marcelo and Lassana Diarra in January. And with Mourinho demanding a striker, it would be foolish to bet against another signing in the winter market.

The special one was not thrilled starting the season with just 2 center forwards, specially when he did not have much faith in one of them, a certain Karim Benzema. When Gonzalo Higuain injured his back, Mourinho's worst fear came true. The French forward has been in poor form since making the switch to la liga, and was clearly not in the manager's first team plans at the start of the season. Jose has been asking for a new striker ever since, and despite Benzema getting two hat rics in 3 games against Auroxe in the champions league and Lavente in the cup, he was quite poor in the match in between against Sevilla. And could the stories have been written any better with Manchester City's Carlos Tevez claiming he wants to leave the east lands! Although it is highly unlikely that Tevez will make the move to Madrid, it seems almost certain that mourinho will get himself a smaller name striker.

On the topic of expensive signings trying to prove themselves, another one set to face the test is Kaka. A much fancied signing when he arrived smashing the 8 year long transfer record set by the club by signing Zinedine Zidane. Just like his transfer record, the hype behind the signing was also short-lived with a below par debut season rocked by injuries. A long term knee operation left the 28 year old former world player of the year out till the new year, but now that period has ended and he is set to return. Some have a lot of hope with the return of the Brazilian, while many others are questioning where exactly he would fit in the current Real Madrid team.

With the current set of midfielders doing so well - specially the man filling in for Kaka, a certain Mesut Özil who arrived from Werder Bremen after a fantastic showing at the world cup in South Africa - there are calls for that same team to continue. Another option could be using Argentine winger Angel di Maria as a super sub while pushing Özil out wide. Cristiano Ronaldo could also play up top which would make up for the missing Gonzalo Higuain in the meantime if Benzema doesn't show his Auruxe / Lavente form. But either way, the return of Kaka is surely likely to boost the team. And specially with Xabi Alonso being in the form of his life, the two have the potential to be devastating with their distribution of the ball.

The defense is surprisingly superb at Real Madrid this season. New signing Ricardo Carvalho was voted as the best signing in la liga this season, while defensive parter Pepe has been amazing ever since his big money move from FC Porto. Full back Sergio Ramos has shown why the club were right to not sign Maicon and is arguably the best right back in the world right now and brazilian Marcelo has done very well at the other side of the defense. Alvaro Arbeloa and Raul Albiol, both fresh world cup winners, are providing wonderful back ups for the starting back 4. Let's not forget Sami Khadera and Lassana Darra who are giving the coach the right kind of selection headache and deep lying playmaker Xabi Alonso being the central man of the side.

One thing we are likely to see from this side in 2011 is squad rotation. Jose Mourinho has been reluctant to change his first 11 who he trusts very much through the first have of the season. But if Real are to progress further ahead in their various competitions, we will have to see Esteban Granero, Pedro Leon, Fernando Gago and Eziquel Garay more often that we did the opening half of the season.

Having not made it beyond the last 16 of the champions league in the last 6 years, Jose Mourinho's been will come all out blazing in their tie against Lyon - a team that has knocked Real out for 2 of those 6 times. 9 managers have come and gone since they last won the champions league in 2002, and Mourinho, who's already won it with two different teams will be looking to set that record straight.

The league doesn't look impossible either, being just 2 points behind Barcelona at this stage of the season. Although the catalans don't look like dropping points anywhere at the moment, one cannot rule out the side from the capital either who under Manuel Pellegrini knocked up 96 league points and over a century of goals in the last season.

We can be sure that this well settled side will be blazing on all fronts in every game that they play. And with the team still very much alive in all competition, fans have a lot to look forward to in 2011. And one of the biggest differences this season is that Mourinho has finally made Real Madrid the team that everybody fears once again.