Ronaldo won four of his five ballond'or awards at the Spanish club

In what started as the usual summer transfer window banter,Christiano Ronaldo eventually left real Madrid for juventus after Nine hugely successful years in Spain,but though his legacy still remains at the club

Real Madrid didn't hold back and granted the Portuguese star,his decision to leave the club,but that was done based on the grounds that they had seen the very best of him,and had younger players developing at the club,ready to step into the fray,and as such were reluctant to bring in any major replacement for their all-time record goalscorer

It was indeed the dawn of a new era at the Spanish capital,one that initially looked promising until,lightning struck within the club

Real Madrid have looked a Shadow of themselves this season without the 5 time ballond'or winner in their team,and even with the presence of Fifa best men's player of the year luka modric,and club record signing Gareth bale,the club have been somewhat average,Karim benzema has been largely anonymous this season,and Marco asensio,is struggling to make an impact,such as the promise he showed when,Ronaldo was at the club,new signings Mariano Diaz and vinicius junior have barely been used

And it is however by no means a coincidence,that in the aftermath of the Portuguese departure, Real Madrid have recorded their longest run without a goal,and are lagging in 9th position on the league,a 5-1,defeat at the hands of arch rivals barcelona in the 'el clasico' on Sunday, was the latest episode in a rather dismal series of disappointing results for the club,a fixture in which the 33 year old often shone in

Madrid now look very much a disjointed team,and recently sacked head coach julen lopetegui never looked like the engineer that could fix the broken parts of the team ,and as the pressure continues to build on the players as well,Real Madrid fans would only have to remember,that not too long ago they were celebrating a third straight champions league victory under former coach zinedine zidane,with Ronaldo a major driving force in that victory,and such has been the painful fall from grace

Ronaldo's vacuum is becoming a rather huge one at the club,while his presence is being felt at another club,hence real Madrid fans can be forgiven for ever believing Ronaldo could be replaced immediately at the club,the juventus ace recently revealed that club president florentino perez made him feel dispensable at the club,but he was definitely anything but that fans and players alike now face the daunting possibility of another disappointing league campaign, except this time it could extend to the champions league,and this has already forced florentino Perez to pull the plug quickly on julen lopetegui's job after just over four months in charge and could further force him into a big money panic buy in the January transfer window,while that remains to be seen,the panic button has long been pressed at the Spanish capital and real Madrid fans may well have to accept that it's as a result of the huge vacuum left by the Portuguese talisman.