They won La Liga in 2020 and became runners up last year with the league being decided on the last matchday.
Sure they haven't been the same in the CL, but even with Ronaldo on board they would not dominate like 2014-18 style.
They needed to rebuild, and keeping Ronaldo wasn't the solution really. It was difficult the first 1-2 seasons without him, but they're also suffering from Ramos being old/gone, Varane leaving, Modric old, Kroos older, Bale washed up and so on.
They had a perfect well oiled machine in those years. Now they're trying to start something new.
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Lol not at all, Barca are in way deeper shit. Their whole identity was evolving around Messi.
While Ronaldo was very important for Real Madrid was he not as important for them as Messi was for Barca.