Football: Madrid still looking for the Real thing: Phil Davison in Madrid reports on the 'trauma' of lying in third place for the famous all whites

IT WILL be a blue, blue Christmas for los merengues, the famous all whites of Real Madrid. 'La Crisis' is the number one talking point in bars throughout Spain and it is Real's recent form, not the country's economic decline, that has the nation chattering.

Real are still in the First Division's top three, despite their slump, but that is considered a lowly spot at this stage of the season after a series of pathetic performances and a string of draws or narrow victories. It is bad enough that their arch-rivals from Barcelona are ahead of them, but the embarrassment is compounded by little-known La Coruna, the surprise leaders.

The pre-Christmas trauma began when the Spanish national coach, Javier Clemente, did not find a single Real player good enough for a World Cup qualifier against Latvia last week. His squad was built around Real's arch-rivals Barcelona, currently second in the league, and billed here as 'El Dream Team' with its dazzling trio of foreigners - Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup and Hristo Stoichkov.

Failing to get a man into the national side, for the first time in 10 years, was a humiliating blow for the all whites, and one that showed how the balance of power in Spanish football has shifted from the capital to the Catalan city.

Then, in their final pre-Christmas fixture last weekend, Real, their secondary blue strip perhaps auguring badly for their seasonal spirits, not only went down 2-0 at Seville but had three men sent off. 'Madrid can't get out of their labyrinth,' screamed a headline in the daily El Pais.

A rejuvenated Diego Maradona, in by far his best performance for Seville so far, ran rings round the Real defence. More significantly, the Argentinian and his Andalucian team- mates dominated Real so completely in the second half, inducing their deep demoralisation and, in part, the three dismissals.

The rot began to set in last season, in the final minutes of the final game, when an own goal and a gift allowed lowly Tenerife to beat Real and handed the league title to Barcelona. Since then, the team psychologist has replaced the physio as the busiest man on the staff, counselling the players out of the depression that final moment of championship coitus interruptus caused.

His main concern has been the Croatian midfielder, Robert Prosinecki, hailed by his manager Benito Floro as 'another Pele, another Cruyff' after he was signed from Red Star Belgrade last year. Floro might have been better advised to hold back such eulogies. Prosinecki was already disappointing but plunged to disaster status after Floro's exaggerated praise.

Prosinecki's problem, said the psychologist, was simple and they were working together to overcome it. Simple it might be but awfully awkward for a footballer: the Croat has a mental block about kicking the ball. He's doing everything else right. He reads the game. He moves beautifully. But when it comes to striking the ball, a little voice tells him to hold back. Floro blames an earlier injury to Prosinecki and has called on Madrid fans to be patient.

With the Croat, patient they may yet be. But with Floro himself, and club chairman Ramon Mendoza? After Real scraped through 1-0 against Vitesse in the UEFA Cup in Madrid's Bernabeu stadium this month, Mendoza faced cries of 'Fuera, fuera' (out, out) and 'Menos milliones, mas cojones' (less millions, more balls) as he left the director's box. The fans had already borrowed a bullfighting tradition by waving white handkerchiefs as their team stuttered to the narrow win.

Symbolic of the team's decline has been the slump in form of Spain's leading international scorer, Emilio Butragueno, the darling of Madrid fans in the late Eighties when he teamed up with the Mexican striker Hugo Sanchez, who has since departed. Even faced with an empty net, 'el Buitre' (the vulture), as they call him here, has been unable to swoop for months and no longer commands a regular place.

----------------------------------------------------------------- SPANISH LEAGUE STANDINGS ----------------------------------------------------------------- P W D L F A Pts La Coruna 15 10 3 2 26 11 23 Barcelona 14 9 4 1 40 15 22 Real Madrid 15 9 2 4 25 13 20 Valencia 15 7 5 3 21 13 19 Atletico Madrid 15 8 3 4 26 19 19 Seville 15 7 4 4 22 18 18 Sporting Gijon 15 6 6 3 17 16 18 -----------------------------------------------------------------