[Sport] Sorry, Barcelona! Zidane's Real Madrid fully deserved to win 34th La Liga title

[The GodFather]

 

 

 

 

Los Blancos tied up their first league title since 2017 with a 2-1 victory over Villarreal and are worthy winners despite claims of VAR assistance
As a player, Zinedine Zidane was known as much for random, violent outbursts as his outrageous skillset. As a coach, he is far more adept at keeping his emotions in check.

 

Monday night at the Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes was different, though.

Zidane knew that a win would leave his Real Madrid side needing just two points from their two remaining Liga fixtures to secure their 34th title. 

He celebrated Ferland Mendy and Karim Benzema's first-half goals wholeheartedly and when Granada pulled a goal back just after the interval, he booted a ball away in frustration in his technical area.

Despite intense late pressure from the hosts, though, Madrid held firm, and as the final whistle blew on a crucial 2-1 victory, Zidane let out an almighty roar.

 

"That scream at the end was only normal," he said afterwards, "because you suffer a lot."

Indeed, this wasn't an expression of joy but a cry of defiance, because Zidane and Real have suffered a lot over the past two years.

And now, following Thursday night's 2-1 win over Villarreal, they get to savour the rewards.

Indeed, a visibly ecstatic Zidane claimed that the Liga title represented the highlight of his coaching career. Perhaps because it also represented validation.

When he sensationally stepped down as Madrid coach in May 2018, after leading the club to a third consecutive Champions League, Zidane explained that he felt he was no longer the right man for the job.

He thought Real couldn't continue winning with him; as it transpired, they couldn't win without him. Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari both tried to fill the void left behind by Zidane. Both failed.

So, Perez brought him back last March, at a time when Real were in utter disarray after seeing their prospects of winning a major title in 2018-19 effectively ended by three defeats in a week.

Losses to Barcelona in both the Copa del Rey and La Liga hit the fans hard, but it was the shock Champions League elimination at home to Ajax which devastated Madrid.

 

Captain Sergio Ramos and president Florentino Perez fell out and the centre-half even considered leaving for China before eventually

committing his future to the club during the summer.

Perez, meanwhile, spent €300 million (£285m/$360m) strengthening the senior squad, most notably with the addition of Eden Hazard. The Belgium winger was a player that Zidane had been urging Madrid to sign for a decade and his belated arrival proved that Perez had ceded to the coach's request to have a greater say in the club's recruitment policy.

Zidane told his players last year that the Liga title was their primary objective, given it is a true test of a team's consistency, but his second spell in charge still looked more likely to fail than succeed when the 2019-20 season began.

Pre-season had been a disaster. Hazard showed up overweight and then missed the start of the campaign with what proved to be a succession of injury issues.

A 7-3 friendly loss to Atletico Madrid had also set alarm bells ringing and Real looked anything but title contenders after winning just one of their opening three Liga fixtures.

"Everything was lacking tonight," a despondent Zidane confessed after a 2-2 draw at Villarreal on September 1. Just over two weeks later, Madrid were embarrassed by Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League opener.

Real performed abysmally at the Parc des Princes, and against a PSG side shorn of the services of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani. For the first time in 10 years, they had failed to register a single shot on target in a competitive fixture.

AS claimed that Madrid had "no soul", while former forward Predrag Mijatovic cast considerable doubt on Zidane's future.

The 1998 Champions League winner told El Larguero: "I don't see Zidane capable of finding the solutions Real need for the team to improve."

They have improved, though. Not spectacularly, but steadily. As Barcelona disintegrated as the season wore on, Madrid solidified.
 

 

Madrid's first major trophy since the departure of all-time top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer of 2018 is, therefore, a massive achievement.

Barcelona's implosion undoubtedly helped, with the Catalans inexplicably sacking Ernesto Valverde while his team were top of the table in January and replacing him with Quique Setien, a coach without a single title on his CV.

However, Madrid have ruthlessly exploited the chaos at Camp Nou with an impressive 10 Liga wins in a row following the suspension of play caused by coronavirus.

They are most worthy champions, and Zidane is a most worthy recipient of the plaudits that should now come his way, having made excellent use of his squad; 21 different players have scored for Madrid this season, while the World Cup winner has displayed his tactical versatility by alternating between 4-3-3, 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 formations after the restart.

He has long been accused of being a 'lucky' coach, while this season's title run-in has been plagued by claims of Real receiving preferential treatment from match officials, with Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu sniping: "VAR always favours the same team."

But Real have fought fairly and tenaciously for every point. As Zidane said last week, "You cannot achieve anything without suffering."

Madrid’s latest Liga win is the perfect case in point. After the pain of last season, Zidane and his players have come roaring back to silence their critics.