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Madrid. — More than two hours had passed since the final whistle went on Real Madrid’s 3-0 victory over Cadiz and some of their players were still inside the Santiago Bernabéu watching on TV when they officially found out they were champions, but they had known for a long time.
The title, eventually delivered by Girona’s 4-2 victory over Barcelona 681 kilometres to the north-east and confirmed at 8.30pm (GMT) on the 34th Saturday of the season, did not see them board an open-top bus down the Castellana to Cibeles, although fans did gather by the goddess of fertility. There was more to do — Bayern Munich come on Wednesday night — and, besides, this was already done.
It had been for some time. Two weeks earlier, Jude Bellingham had scored a 94th-minute goal to win the clásico, their last remaining contenders eliminated, if you could truly call Barcelona that. Two months earlier they had put four past the nearest thing they had to genuine challengers, effectively eliminating Girona too: they were the most exciting, the most surprising team but they would not be champions.
As for Atlético Madrid, the only team to defeat Real all season, they had eliminated themselves even sooner, gone by Christmas. This hadn’t been a race; ultimately, it had been a parade.
The night Girona lost 4-0 to Madrid in February there was a hint of relief in the words of their manager, Michel Sánchez, as if he had been liberated from a lie, the obligation for the season’s great revelation to do a Leicester.
“When you face someone this good, you see your own reality, and this isn’t our league,” he said. Instead, it was Madrid’s, and almost from the beginning. That may feel over simplistic – and those early weeks didn’t yet suggest domination – but with four games to go, their lead is an unassailable 13 points over Girona (14 ahead of Barcelona) and, in the final analysis, they were just better, too good for everyone else. Even when they didn’t seem that good themselves.
“Seem” may be the key word there. Madrid are good. Top from weeks one to five, eight to 11 and 14 to 19, they took the lead again in week 21 and never let go. They dominate every meaningful metric. They have scored more goals and conceded fewer than anyone else, completed more passes and dribbles, created more chances and had more shots. No one has won a higher percentage of tackles or duels, nor kept more clean sheets.
“There are two types of managers: those that do nothing and that do a lot of damage,” Carlo Ancelotti said this week. “The game belongs to the players.
“And Madrid’s are very, very good. In the end, for all the analysis, sometimes maybe it comes down to that most basic fact. At the end of the Girona game, Ancelotti suggested Vinícius Júnior was the best in the world. Who, he was asked, is next? “Bellingham,” he said.
“Third? Rodrygo . . . Fourth: Kroos … Valverde, Camavinga . . .” Of course he is biased. But, he said, “being on the bench today was very comfortable”.
It was classic Ancelotti, his refusal to make it about him part of what makes him successful, but there was something in that. And yet nothing is not the word for what he has done. Instead he has quietly got on with finding solutions; in this squad, there are many of them.
In the 3-0 win over Cadiz on Saturday, when Madrid’s 27th victory put them within someone else’s 90 minutes of the title, Thibaut Courtois started in goal, making a decisive save at 0-0. It was the first time he had played all season, having sustained a cruciate ligament injury, an entire campaign undertaken without the best goalkeeper in the world. There were sufficient doubts about Andriy Lunin that Madrid hurriedly signed Kepa Arrizabalaga but the Ukrainian became the first choice and only two keepers have saved a higher percentage of shots.
Éder Militão meanwhile was making only his third start against Cádiz and David Alaba still hasn’t returned from a knee injury of his own.
Ancelotti called their injuries at centre-back a “world record” but he did not linger on it and it did not derail them. In their absence, Antonio Rüdiger has been Spain’s best defender. Aurélien Tchouaméni doesn’t like it but has played at centre-back, and exceptionally well. So has Dani Carvajal. Lucas Vázquez and Eduardo Camavinga have performed at full-back.
Toni Kroos, seemingly on the way out, has been arguably the country’s best player in a restructured midfield; rested against Cadiz he has completed 1 999 passes and he has seven assists.
With Karim Benzema unexpectedly leaving a year earlier than Kylian Mbappé will arrive, Ancelotti also invented a new, sort-of-striker role for Jude Bellingham, and the England international became the league’s top scorer in the first half of the season; he has slowed since February, felt frustrations, but is still only one off Artem Dovbyk. Joselu and Brahim were goalscorers on the day it was all tied up, their contributions key, nine and six goals each. – Supersport.
Online Reporter