Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid on Thursday (July 16th) won the 34th title of Spanish champion in its history, the first since 2017, beating Villarreal 2-1 for the 37th day of Liga.
Madrid have won thanks to a double from the French center Karim Benzema (29th, 76th). They now have seven points ahead of the defending champion, FC Barcelona, defeated 2-1 by Osasuna Thursday at Camp Nou and who can no longer join them before the 38th and last day of the championship this Sunday.
With this new coronation, it is a football alchemist who is rewarded: returned to Real in March 2019, after a first successful mandate, between 2016 and 2018 then nine sabbaticals, Zinédine Zidane, 48, had taken over a team drifting white. In one year, the French made it a winning machine which offered him his 11th title out of 16 possible at the head of the "White House".
A competition suspended for three months
This coronation will forever have a particular taste: Real will remain the champion of a memorable edition of the Liga, turned upside down by the pandemic of new coronavirus which interrupted competition for three months between March and June, and which forced the players at the end of the season in tournament mode, with matches every three days, behind closed doors and in the oppressive heat of the Spanish summer.
>> Read also: Covid-19: Liga, Bundesliga, Italian Cup ... European football is back in service
And for the Marseille technician, now double Spanish champion, this title has a very special flavor: "ZZ" has always said that La Liga is the most difficult competition to win, the one that requires the most consistency in effort , the one that trades the least with the approximate.
"To win in this Liga, you also have to know how to suffer, and we suffered," said Zidane on Monday evening after the success of his team 2-1 in Granada for the 36th day.
After an irregular but impressive course of solidity since the resumption of competition on June 11 with ten victories in ten matches, the deliverance arrived at 10.58 p.m. this Thursday evening, on the closed field of the modest Alfredo Di Stéfano stadium, in the center of training of Valdebebas.
Real Madrid crowned "best club of the 20th century"
With a first goal from the inevitable Karim Benzema (29th), which followed a recovery from Casemiro and an assist from Luka Modric, then a penalty from the French center-center (76th) for his 21st goal in La Liga this season , we thought at times seeing Real Madrid of 2017, who had managed a magnificent double Liga - Champions League ... before the reduction of the score of the head of Vicente Iborra (84th).
A legendary "White House" player, Zidane is extending his myth as coach of the "best club of the 20th century", according to a trophy awarded by Fifa.
When Real lagged behind at the start of the season, its return to the merengue bench was questioned by the Spanish press and supporters. After the terrible 7-3 suffered against Atlético in a friendly preseason match, Real have won only five of their first nine La Liga matches. But after a 1-0 defeat in Mallorca on October 19, the Madrilenians launched the machine, chaining 21 matches without losing.
Leganés face Real Sunday
After Espanyol a week ago, Mallorca is officially relegated, beaten by Granada (1-2). The last place will be played Sunday evening between Leganés (18th, 35 pts), who will receive Real, and Celta Vigo (17th, 36 points), who will move on the lawn of Espanyol. In addition, Atlético won 2-0 against Getafe, Real Sociedad and Seville left in a goalless draw while Alavés fled by winning 2-1 on the lawn of Betis.
With his usual executives (Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos) and successful transplants of new players (Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois, Fede Valverde, Ferland Mendy, Rodrygo ...), Zidane, leader of men outside -pair, silenced the critics who pointed out his lack of tactical sense.
An elite coach, who harvests trophy after trophy. An intractable defense, the best of the five major European leagues. A Karim Benzema who perfectly replaced Cristiano Ronaldo (who left for Juventus Turin in 2018) on the front line of the Merengue attack, and who follows Lionel Messi in the classification of the best scorers of Liga (23 goals for Messi, 20 for Benzema), to the point of already being cited among the candidates for the Ballon d'Or 2020.
With AFP and Reuters
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