After a two-year reign for the sworn enemy in Barcelona, Real returned the Spanish crown by beating Villarreal 2-1 on Thursday for the 37th day thanks to a double from Karim Benzema. The team is led by Zinedine Zidanelorgne already in the Champions League in August.
Zinedine Zidanes Real Madrid picked up on Thursday, July 16, 34e title for champions of Spain in its history, the first since 2017, beating Villarreal 2-1 for 37e League day.
Madrid have won thanks to a double play from French center Karim Benzema (29)e76e). They now have a seven-point lead over defending champions FC Barcelona, defeated 2-1 by Osasuna on Thursday at the Camp Nou and who can no longer join them before 38e and the 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 successful first term, between 2016 and 2018 for nine sabbaticals, Zinédine Zidane, 48, had taken over a white team in operation. In one year, the French made it a winning machine that offered him his 11the title of 16 possible at the head of the “White House”.
A competition suspended for three months
This coronation will forever have a special taste: Real will remain the champions of a memorable edition of the League, turned upside down by the pandemic of the new coronavirus that suspended competition for three months between March and June, and which forced 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.
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And for the Marseille technician, now double Spanish champion, this title has a very special taste: “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 approximate.
“To win in this League, you also have to know how to suffer, and we suffered,” Zidane said on Monday night after the success of his team 2-1 in Granada for the 36e day.
After an irregular but impressive course of solidity since the resumption of the competition on June 11 with ten victories in ten matches, the liberation arrived at 22:58 on Thursday night in the field behind closed doors to the modest Alfredo Di Stéfano stadium, in the center of training of Valdebebas.
Real Madrid was crowned as “the best club in XXe century”
With a first goal from the inevitable Karim Benzema (29e), which followed a recovery by Casemiro and an assist by Luka Modric, then a penalty from the French midfielder (76e) for his 21e goals in La Liga this season, we sometimes thought we would see Real Madrid 2017, which had succeeded in a magnificent double Liga – Champions League … before reducing the score by the head of Vicente Iborra (84e).
A legendary “White House” player, Zidane expands his myth as the 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, the Spanish press and supporters’ return to the merengue bench was questioned. After suffering a terrible 7-3 against Atlético in a friendly pre-season 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 and chained 21 matches without losing.
Leganés meets Real Sunday
After Espanyol a week ago, Mallorca has been officially relegated, beaten by Granada (1-2). The last place is played on Sunday night between Leganés (18, 35 points), who host Real, and Celta Vigo (17, 36 points), who will move on the lawn in Espanyol. In addition, Atlético won 2-0 against Getafe, Real Sociedad and Sevilla left in a goalless draw while Alavés escaped winning 2-1 on Beti’s lawn.
With his regular bosses (Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos) and successful transplants from new players (Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois, Fede Valverde, Ferland Mendy, Rodrygo …), Zidane, leader for men outside the couple , silenced the critics who pointed out his lack of tactical sense.
An elite coach who reaps trophy after trophy. A difficult defense, the best of the five major European championships. A Karim Benzema who perfectly replaced Cristiano Ronaldo (who left Juventus Turin 2018) in the front line of the Merengue attack and who follows Lionel Messi in the classification of the best goal scorers in the League (23 goals for Messi, 20 for Benzema), to already be quoted among the candidates for the Ballon d’Or 2020.
With AFP and Reuters
