Despite wrapping up their 35th LaLiga title and retaining a chance of winning the Champions League this term, Real Madrid find themselves at something of a crossroads.
The individual brilliance of Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior may have fired Los Blancos to a dominant triumph in LaLiga, but attention will soon turn to Madrid's attempts to defend the title for the first time since 2007-08.
With the potential arrival of a true global superstar and one of the Premier League's best defenders, as well as the matter of refreshing a brilliant but ageing midfield, it promises to be an interesting few months at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Here, Stats Perform analyses what Carlo Ancelotti's men could do to fend off the potential challenge of an improved Barcelona next season.
The Mbappe conundrum: How would the superstar fit in?
For months, if not years, Real Madrid's plans for 2022 seem to have revolved around one name: Kylian Mbappe.
While recent reports have suggested the 23-year-old could yet remain at the Parc des Princes, a move for the talismanic attacker – who will be a free agent in June – cannot yet be ruled out.
Having scored 35 goals and provided 19 assists in 43 appearances in all competitions for Paris Saint-Germain, Mbappe would clearly be an asset to any team in European football, but the question remains as to how Mbappe will complement another free-scoring Frenchman in the Spanish capital.
Benzema has become just the fifth Madrid player in history to score 40+ goals in a single season for the club (after Cristiano Ronaldo, Ferenc Puskas, Alfredo Di Stefano and Hugo Sanchez), and is being touted for the Ballon d'Or after driving Madrid's Champions League run. Benzema has scored 14 goals in 10 European appearances this term, averaging a goal every 65.1 minutes in a stunning campaign.
Mbappe and Benzema are no strangers to playing together, but the PSG forward failed to score and only provided one assist when doing so during France's disappointing Euro 2020 campaign. The Madrid man, meanwhile, finished just one goal short of the golden boot after netting four times.
Matters are complicated further when taking into account the form of Vinicius, who has formed a lethal partnership with Benzema this season, registering 33 goal involvements of his own in all competitions (18 goals, 15 assists), and Mbappe's preference to play from the left could infringe on Vinicius.
However, Mbappe's development into a more well-rounded attacking talent should ensure he at least provides a threat, whichever flank he starts from.
As well as improving on his 11 assists from last season, Mbappe has completed more dribbles (138) at a higher success rate (50.74 per cent) than Vinicius this term (130, 41.4 per cent), and could join him in playing a more creative role supporting Benzema.
Upgrading in defence: The arrival of Antonio Rudiger
Having announced his intention to leave Chelsea at the end of his contract, Antonio Rudiger is another player strongly linked with a move to the Bernabeu ahead of next season.
The German defender has been one of the Blues' outstanding players under Thomas Tuchel, starring in their Champions League triumph last year and enjoying another fine campaign this season.
Rudiger has been a key component in the Premier League's third-best defence this season, with Chelsea keeping 15 clean sheets and conceding just 28 goals despite falling out of title contention after a promising start.
The 29-year-old appears to be an upgrade on Madrid's current defensive options after last year's departures of Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane, offering more physicality than David Alaba and greater defensive steel than Eder Militao, a partnership that was frequently exposed by Manchester City recently.
Rudiger would also offer a threat at the other end of the pitch, with his three league goals this season bettered by just one other Premier League centre-back (Jan Bednarek, four), and his ability to step out of defence was on display when he scored a 39-yard stunner against Brentford in early April – Chelsea's longest-range Premier League goal since January 2007
However, Rudiger has been accustomed to playing in a back three at Chelsea and would be most likely to play as a right-sided centre-back in a back four for Madrid, unless Ancelotti opts to shift Alaba to left-back.
Rudiger would likely have to curb his attacking enthusiasm if paired with the naturally forward-thinking Alaba, but he appears a smart choice to further solidify a defence that has been the second-strongest in LaLiga this term (only Sevilla have conceded fewer goals).
The case for Camavinga: Time to look to the future?
The midfield trio of Casemiro, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric will go down in Madrid history: they started together in three consecutive Champions League final wins between 2016 and 2018, with the Croatian also starring in 2014's victory.
Nobody can question their quality or longevity. All three have made at least 35 starts this season, while Modric in particular has produced several sumptuous contributions in big games that have helped him to an assist haul of nine, six more than any other Madrid midfielder.
However, given they occasionally appear to lack a certain dynamism when out of possession, could Madrid benefit from some extra mobility in the engine room?
The signing of Eduardo Camavinga, who has made 35 appearances this term, was clearly made with such a move in mind, but the French youngster has only started 14 times in all competitions and would benefit from more playing time next season as he looks to improve his all-round game.
However, neither Camavinga nor Federico Valverde possess the kind of metronomic abilities of Modric or Kroos, and the younger pair also average fewer passes into the final third per 90 minutes than their more experienced peers (6.25 and 6.1, respectively).
As such, with the rumoured arrivals of Mbappe and Rudiger involving no transfer fees, Madrid could yet benefit from dipping into the market to acquire another young, progressive midfielder in a move that might also help to prolong the excellence of Modric and Kroos.
Toney in Southgate's thoughts, but beating Ukraine the priority for England
Gareth Southgate is considering starting Ivan Toney in Sunday's Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine, but picking the best possible team to win the game is the top priority.
Toney was called up by Southgate for this month's fixtures, despite the Brentford striker facing a potential ban for breaching the Football Association's betting rules.
The 27-year-old was an unused substitute in Friday's 2-1 win against Italy, as he was in September's Nations League draw against Germany on his only previous call-up.
Southgate is hoping to give Toney some minutes against Ukraine at Wembley, but not at the expense of selecting a player more suited to starting the match.
"Ivan Toney has been very good. We really like him, and he's very much in our thoughts," Southgate said at Saturday's pre-match news conference.
"The numbers we've got with us now, there's always the duel objective. There's the desire to see players, but we're in a qualifying group, so the priority is to always win the game."
Southgate also confirmed Jordan Henderson is available after recovering from illness, while Jude Bellingham is fit after limping off late on against Italy.
Full-back Reece James has returned to club side Chelsea after sustaining a knock, but Southgate decided against calling up a replacement.
"We've been training with this group all week, so to call someone from outside the group would potentially be quite complicated," Southgate said.
"We have no idea where they might be or what their training load has been over the past few days.
"So, if we were going to do that at this point, we would do it with the Under-21s, but they've got a game today, and we think we've just got enough to get through tomorrow's game."
Southgate is the third manager to win 50 games while in charge of England after Walter Winterbottom (78) and Alf Ramsey (69).
But rather than bask in that personal achievement, the England manager is focused on making it two wins from two in qualifying for Germany 2024.
"It means we have the chance to make it 51 tomorrow, it's as simple as that," he said. "The past and what we've done up until now is irrelevant.
"I'm just focused on tomorrow's game. We need to win and need to be on six points when we leave Wembley tomorrow.
"If we're going to be considered a top team, we need to back up the performance and result that we showed the other night."
Ukraine are playing their first qualifying fixture of the campaign amid a backdrop of ongoing conflict back in their homeland, which was invaded by Russia last February.
"They're a proud group of players," Southgate said. "They are totally committed to bringing enjoyment to their public.
"We of course have huge sympathy with what's going on, but tomorrow is a game of football and we're fully focused on trying to win the game."
Christensen expected to miss El Clasico after Barcelona confirm injury
Andreas Christensen is expected to miss the final Clasico of the season after Barcelona confirmed he sustained a calf injury on international duty.
The centre-back started Denmark's opening Euro 2024 qualifier against Finland on Thursday but lasted only 18 minutes before being forced off.
Barcelona revealed it to be a problem with his left calf on Saturday following widespread media reports of him facing a period on the sidelines.
While the club have not given a timeframe for Christensen's return, simply saying he is "unavailable for selection and his recovery will determine his return", they are reportedly expecting him to be out for up to a month.
As such, he could miss as many as six games – among those, crucially, is the Copa del Rey semi-final second leg against Real Madrid on April 5, when Barca host Los Blancos having beaten them 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu in the first leg.
The other five matches he could be a doubt for are in LaLiga, though Barca will likely feel their 12-point lead at the summit is sufficient to cope without him for the time being.
Christensen has become a prominent figure at Camp Nou in recent times, however.
After joining on a free transfer from Chelsea in pre-season, the 26-year-old was initially a bit-part figure, making only five LaLiga appearances before the World Cup partly due to injury.
But he missed just one of their 10 games across all competitions prior to this international window – that being the first leg against Madrid.
Ibrahimovic: Conte being made to pay by Spurs for being himself
Zlatan Ibrahimovic believes Antonio Conte is being made to pay by Tottenham for "being himself".
Conte is widely expected to be sacked in the coming days following his outburst after Spurs let a two-goal lead slip in last weekend's 3-3 Premier League draw at Southampton.
The Italian accused his players of being "selfish" and playing with "no heart", with that draw following swiftly on from Tottenham's FA Cup and Champions League exits.
But Ibrahimovic, who has never previously played under Conte, has defended the multi-title-winning coach for speaking his mind in public.
"Every single person works in his own way. Somebody tries to be an actor, pretend. Somebody is being himself, somebody is trying to be perfect," he told Sky Sports.
"I believe in being yourself, and sometimes you pay for it because that's not what the people want to hear.
"I prefer to be myself and express myself like I think and the way I want. We all work in our own way."
Conte has spent the past week in Italy, and his future is likely to be decided by the middle of next week at the latest when Tottenham's international players return to training.
Milan veteran Ibrahimovic is himself away on international duty with Sweden and was introduced as a second-half substitute in Friday's 3-0 Euro 2024 qualifying loss to Belgium.
Sweden's oldest player at the age of 41 years and five months, Ibrahimovic has no plans to call time on his career just yet.
"I want to continue playing football," said Ibrahimovic, who has played four times for Milan since returning from a long-term injury lay-off last month.
"If I feel good, this is my priority, and I feel very good at Milan. If they want me to keep me then I'm happy. I'm available."
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