The Weekly Take, Issue 29: More than a Dynasty

The UEFA Champions League is now underway, and with the exceptions of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, all of the teams expected to be in contention for the title came away with victories.

One such team are three-time defending champions Real Madrid, who swept aside Roma in a dominant 3-0 win and in doing so, sent a clear message that they will not give up their stranglehold on the Champions League easily.

What made this all the more impressive was that it was Real’s first Champions League game after losing Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus. This victory also came against last season’s semifinalists.

Despite having lost their superstar in the off-season, Real do not seem to miss Ronaldo at all, with the likes of Isco, Gareth Bale, and Luka Modrić all producing excellent performances throughout the season so far.

I have mentioned before that last season’s Champions League victory, Real’s third in a row and fourth in five years, made the current Real Madrid team the greatest football team of all time.

However, I will go a step further: if Real were to win this season’s Champions League, they would become the greatest dynasty in the history of team sports.

Consider the contenders from other team sports.

I will begin by eliminating all national teams, regardless of how dominant they were. With apologies to the likes of Brazil 1958-70 (football), New Zealand 2010-present (rugby), Germany 2002-12 (hockey), and Australia 1999-2007 (cricket), international sports have a huge element of luck involved, as they often come down to which country happens to have the most elite players born there.

As I consider Real Madrid 2014-present to have already surpassed all other football teams, I will now compare them to the greatest club dynasties from other team sports: the Crusaders 1998-2008 (rugby), the New England Patriots 2001-16 (American football), the Chicago Bulls 1991-98 (basketball), and the New York Yankees 1947-62 (baseball).

Over 11 seasons, the Crusaders won eight Super Rugby titles and were runners-up twice. While that is a truly staggering mark in terms of sheer dominance, Super Rugby only had 12 teams between 1998 and 2005, and 14 from 2006 to 2010.

In contrast, Real Madrid are currently on an eight-season streak of semifinals or better in the 32-team Champions League, including, as mentioned, four titles in the last five seasons. This eight-season streak is an all-time record.

Thus, I would rank Real Madrid ahead of the Crusaders.

Since 2001, the New England Patriots have reached eight Super Bowls, winning five. They have also reached at least the conference championship 12 times in 17 seasons. This statistic is fairly similar to the Real streak I just mentioned. Furthermore, like the Champions League, the NFL contains 32 teams.

It’s close, but I would put the Patriots ahead of Real because of their dynasty’s sheer longevity. However, a deep run by Real this season would cause me to change my mind on this, because in 2002 and 2008, the Patriots missed the playoffs. This gives Real a clear chance to surpass them.

Throughout the 1990s, the Chicago Bulls were the NBA’s dominant force. Between 1989 and 1998, the Bulls won six NBA championships and, over those 10 seasons, reached at least the Eastern Conference Finals eight times. All six championships came as part of a three-peat, and the Bulls also won a then-record 72 games in 1996.

For those reasons, I currently rank the Bulls ahead of Real; however, if Real were to win the Champions League this seasons, they would move ahead of the Bulls, because in 1994, without Michael Jordan, the Bulls only made the conference semifinals before being knocked out by the Knicks. Real have an opportunity to win the Champions League without Cristiano Ronaldo, and thus outdo the Bulls in this regard.

Finally, we come to the New York Yankees, who won 10 World Series titles in 16 seasons. This was easy for me: Real are ahead of the Yankees. In the 1950s MLB, there were hardly any non-white or non-US players, and expansion had not yet taken place, so the league was much smaller than it is today. The 1950s Yankees are not even on the same planet as 2010s Real.

All things considered, this Real team continues to make more history with each game. However, only time will tell if they end up “only” the greatest football team of all time, or something beyond even that accolade.