The King regains his crown! Real Madrid won its 36th Spanish championship title on Saturday after the defeat of its great rival FC Barcelona in Girona (4-2) in the Catalan derby, at the end of an impressively solid season. “Campeones, campeones, olé, olé, olé!” chant White House supporters in the streets of the capital.
Their beloved club, disappointing second last season ten lengths behind Barça, is now assured of recovering the La Liga throne for the third time in the last five seasons, rewarding an almost perfect exercise and an insolent domination.
With 27 victories and only one defeat four days before the end of the championship, the Spanish giant is 13 points ahead of Girona, its new runner-up, with only 12 points to collect, and is therefore mathematically champion. “We had an exceptional season. We were very consistent, we made few mistakes and the advantage is deserved,” said Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, the great architect of this success.
It’s difficult to contradict him, as his men showed themselves to be intractable and dominated the championship head and shoulders. Even on a day without or deprived of many starters, the Merengue club left only crumbs to its two pursuers, each of whom it beat twice (3-0, 4-0 against Girona, 2-1, 3-2 against Barça).
On Saturday afternoon, Real presented itself against relegated Cádiz in its Santiago Bernabéu stadium, roof closed and new metal case completed, with a hand and a half on the trophy, knowing that it could pop the champagne before nightfall. night in the event of a misstep by FC Barcelona.
And even with a largely overhauled eleven four days before the Champions League semi-final return against Bayern, the Madrid club did its share of the work thanks to a gem in the top corner from Brahim Diaz (51st, 1-0) , decisive passer then for the inevitable Jude Bellingham (68th, 2-0) scorer a few seconds after coming into play for the 18th time of the season. Joselu widened the gap in added time (90th 3, 3-0), but the White House members had not waited for him to start celebrating, while awaiting the result of their Barcelona enemies. They were able to exult in earnest almost two hours later, in a shower of horns.
Still with his legendary phlegm and his raised eyebrow, Carlo Ancelotti nevertheless called on his people to wait until next weekend: “If we have to celebrate we will celebrate on Sunday. In the meantime, we go home, peacefully, thinking about Wednesday.”
Before trying to win a fifteenth Champions League, the Italian technician can nevertheless light a little cigar, because this 36th title bears more than ever the seal of his pragmatic but terribly effective football. Orphaned by Karim Benzema, who left for Saudi Arabia, Carlo Ancelotti changed everything and adapted his tactical plan to highlight his new star recruit, Jude Bellingham, proving that he knew how to reinvent himself.
The result: 32 victories and only 2 defeats in 49 matches in all competitions, and an impressive ability to get out of all situations. “I think our greatest strength is that he finds a way to let us play with freedom. We are a little unpredictable. On a human level, he gives us a lot of calm and confidence,” says Bellingham, Merengue’s new providential man, about his coach. Madrid is now awaiting the 2024 edition of the famous photo of the “Mister”, sunglasses and cigar in his mouth among his players, which went viral in 2022 after winning his first Spanish championship title.