No need to make excuses. They're just too good.
I still think Madrid will continue to struggle vs teams with strong and technical midfields, like Barca, Bayern, Dortmund. They play bypassing the midfield. They have fast dribblers who beat their mark 1v1 and pass the ball in space to forwards with a shoot first mentality. This works vs weak teams and it helps you win game by multiple goals, even when it looks like the team isn't playing well, and even when the match looks more even.
However vs teams who control the midfield and deny your dribblers the ball and cut your avenues to dribble and pass into space, your forwards will get starved of service. VS strong midfields, Madrid will devolve back into a counter attacking team.