The fact that there are 12 points difference between Barcelona and Real Madrid tells us the story of the season thus far. Real Madrid has been doing well in the UCL just like they always do, but when they are bad in the league that proves that they are not as good as they used to be, like last year they were better and I do not mean like they were better than Barcelona, that is easy because Barcelona was bad, it is not about standings, it's about how many points they collected by this time, and it was probably higher.
Real Madrid has played very poorly this season; their lack of consistency is the reason they keep losing points unexpectedly.
Real Madrid finds it very challenging to close the twelve-point gap with Barcelona because they don't have time to do so given that Barcelona is also in excellent form and has made winning the La Liga title one of their top priorities this season.
So, overall they are worse this year and just because of this fact I feel like they may not end up winning the UCL title this year, not again at least.
Real Madrid, one of the best teams in the world that knows how to play the Champions League even when they are not in good form, is a team that cannot be predicted when it comes to the Champions League. I don't think we can judge their Champions League performance with the league performance because they can surprise us by making the finals.