
Cristiano Ronaldo dependency' is a thing of the past, and more than in recent seasons, Real Madrid can still win even when the Portuguese star isn't on the scoresheet.
When an injury was keeping Ronaldo out of the first few weeks of the season, Alvaro Morata stepped in and contributed goals upon his return to the club, while Marco Asensio broke onto the scene.
Gareth Bale and Toni Kroos added in goals of their own so the Real No. 7 wasn't missed too dearly.
Strangely enough, since his return against Espanyol, Los Blancos have gone on to two wins and four draws, surprising given a player like Cristiano Ronaldo and his abilities.
Nonetheless, the player's fitness may perhaps be a reason for that, as a lack of a pre-season and need for more game time have slowed his reintegration in terms of goals scored.
Without a pre-season, two goals in five matches are not the best of numbers for Ronaldo, but he has contributed in other ways, with crucial assists and general good play to contribute to the team getting back to winning ways.
The entire squad is capable of scoring
Not only has Zidane's side scored 20 goals without Ronaldo, but even more importantly 14 of the team's 24 players have contributed at least one goal so far this campaign.
With over half of the team contributing, Zidane has more options to score when needed than any other LaLiga team, with Las Palmas and Barcelona trailing in number of goalscorers within their respective squads.
Even with Bale and Benzema far from their best, the team has pushed onwards, perhaps signalling a new era altogether that goes beyond Ronaldo's fitness and points to less of a burden on the entire BBC.
Without their usual front three and without their star, this is now a new Madrid - one that depends on nobody and is much more of a team.Cristiano Ronaldo, Danilo, Sergio Ramos, Pepe and Luka Modric got their names on the scoresheet on Saturday, five different scorers to go with five more that Real Madrid have had in their ranks in just four matches this season.
The Portuguese made his season debut against Osasuna and took just five minutes to open his account.
More of a surprise was that three of the other four goals came from defenders, Zinedine Zidane enjoying the spectacle from the bench.
Ramos had already been on target this season, decisively, in the European Super Cup.
On that night, another defender, Dani Carvajal, found the net along with newcomer Marco Asensio.
The young Spaniard, one of the sensations of the new season, repeated the feat a few days later at the Estadio de Anoeta, the day that Gareth Bale premiered with a double.
Against Celta Vigo, Alvaro Morata and Toni Kroos were on target, meaning that, in total, 13 goals have been scored by 10 different players.
That shows the variety of goalscoring resources available to Zidane this season, and this is without players who can usually be relied on to make their mark in the attacking third - Karim Benzema and Lucas Vazquez.
Bale, Asensio and Ramos lead the list as the three players who have scored two goals so far.
To put this scoring explosion into perspective, during the 2015/16 campaign, Real needed 17 games before 10 different players had scored at least one goal: Bale, Benzema, Cristiano, James Rodriguez, Jese, Marcelo, Danilo, Nacho, Ramos and Modric.
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