A year ago, Real Madrid took home two trophies, including the much vaulted 10th Champions League trophy.

One year later, this team is a shadow of itself and will walk away with no trophies on the campaign.

Where 2013-14 will remain in history, 2014-15 will be forgotten in ignominy.

And it is a shame, especially considering the 22 straight wins the team managed early in the season when it looked completely unstoppable.

So what went wrong? Why did Real Madrid tumble into mediocrity and fail at the biggest hurdle?

Loss of Key Players

This works in two ways. The first set of losses were players who left in the summer and the second were players injured throughout the campaign.

At the end of the summer, Real Madrid let three key players leave the club. Xabi Alonso was essential because he created balance in the midfield, providing the club with a player capable of the defensive and offensive in equal measure. With him gone, the task fell to Toni Kroos, who, despite his best efforts, never filled the role well.

Angel Di Maria was also crucial to this team's success last year and his absence was apparent with Madrid's midfield lacking the incisive player capable of making decisions on both sides of the ball. Isco and James Rodriguez did their best to fill his role, but never quite showed the effectiveness and speed that the Argentine possessed.

And then there was Diego Lopez, a goaltender who was the clear-cut No. 1 in 2014-15 over the struggling Iker Casillas. But alas, the former was abandoned in favor of the latter and the team never quite got solid goaltending the full year round.

Injuries

And then there were the major injuries. Or at this point, you can really whittle it down to one player -- Luka Modric. He won't blow anyone away with his raw statistics, but there is no doubt that with Modric in the midfield, Madrid had a man capable of breaking down other defenses with sound creativity and intelligence. Without him, the paths through the midfield moved through the risktaking Isco and Rodriguez, both capable of making plays in the offensive third, but not as adept in the middle of the park.

But Rodriguez was also out for a portion of the year, as was Sergio Ramos and Karim Benzema.

Carlo Ancelotti's Questionable Decisions

The players execute the plan, but the coach must put out the best pieces to execute the plan. And Carlo Ancelotti struggled to make sound decisions all season long.

The choice to make Casillas the No. 1 over Keylor Navas was costly at crucial junctures.

The late and inconsequential substitutions during games. The overuse of the same lineup time and again without considering giving major players time to rest. The handling of such players as Asier Illarramendi and Chicharito, sapping the players of their confidence.

And finally, a lack of dynamism in attack that ultimately cost the team against major rivals.

Ancelotti won this team a historic title, but his time in Spain's capital has likely come to an end.

Power Outage

Gareth Bale has struggled down the stretch and was putrid in the crucial game against Juventus. And Cristiano Ronaldo, despite his 55 goals on the year, only has 23 goals since the turn of the calendar, a span of 28 games. In the 23 games from the first half of the year, Ronaldo put up a whopping 32 goals.

More concerning is that as the season has progressed, it has become increasingly apparent that Ronaldo is not able to take control of games on his own the way his great rival can and has throughout the campaign. Ronaldo can score as much as anyone, but he relies on his teammates to help set him up in the midfield.