A formality to conclude a health walk. Real Madrid returned to the top of the Spanish championship by winning, on Saturday April 30, the 35th title in its history in La Liga. This indisputable coronation, acquired four days from the end, was however not obvious last summer.
The departure of Zinédine Zidane and a scent of the end of the cycle left a reconstruction phase for the Merengues. But the return of Carlo Ancelotti to the bench has remade Madrid training into a winning machine, and even crushing the competition.
With a very comfortable lead over FC Sevilla and FC Barcelona, it’s hard to say that Ancelotti has avoided a possible downgrade from Real Madrid. Last summer, in the Spanish capital, no one had imagined such a scenario. Second in La Liga last season behind its neighbor, Atlético, released in the semi-finals of the Champions League, Zinédine Zidane had not signed an infamous outing for his last exercise.
But Real had not won a single trophy this season, a first since 2010. It was said above all that the Merengues were aging, losing momentum and unable to renew themselves. The succession of Zidane, missed in the great widths during his first start in 2018 and the interlude Santiago Solari, promised to be all the more difficult.
The signing of Carlo Ancelotti, however winner of the Champions League with Real in 2014 and of which “ZZ” was the disciple, had moreover only very weakly reassured. Almost like his ex-new creamery, the transalpine coach was seen as overwhelmed, on the way to “has been” after passages without much relief in clubs of lesser caliber (Naples, then Everton). To make new, Madrid made with old in short.
It was too quickly to forget the profile of both this club and its technician. Yes, Real relied on an almost unchanged hard core that ended up aging. But he had also been able to anticipate some of his ills by medium-term recruitments like Vinicius, Militão, Mendy or Rodrygo. And if Ancelotti is not a project for the future, the Italian has made himself the specialist in short and virtuous cycles for more than a decade. Chelsea (2009-2011), Paris (2011-2013), Real (2013-2015), Bayern (2016-2017): wherever “Carletto” goes, the charts are filled.
So, failing to have a host of big names in coaching available, Real Madrid relied on their DNA to win, their sole objective each season. Genetics shared by these same locker room executives (Kroos, Modric, Courtois, etc.) still very present, and delighted to find a technician who is a master in the art of communication with his players. With Carlo Ancelotti, the White House has granted itself guarantees in the absence of certainties. These ended up quickly materializing.
/2022/04/30/phpcjQBct.jpg)
While FC Barcelona floundered at the start of the season and Atlético tended towards its own caricature to ensure its own succession, Real Madrid will have known the luxury of a cloudless year. The people of Madrid hardly experienced more than a short week of turbulence at the end of September. Ancelotti’s squad did not necessarily sparkle tactically, winning half of their La Liga matches by just one goal (12 out of 25). But this almost unshakable confidence in his strengths kept him away from inconstancy and transformed the season into a long calm river. In 34 days, Real will have spent only one out of the throne.
Carlo Ancelotti will also have succeeded in one of his feats, putting his individualities in the best possible position to punish the opponent. As he did during his first stint at the Bernabeu with Cristiano Ronaldo, the 62-year-old coach made Karim Benzema the locomotive technical leader of his entire team. Already empowered by Zinedine Zidane after the departure of “CR7” to Juventus, the French center-forward signs the best season of his career, well helped by the freedom that his coach leaves him to weigh.
By his side, Vinicius plays the role of spark and has progressed by leaps and bounds in a few months. The duo have scored 60 of Real’s 108 goals in official competition, ripping apart defenses in Spain and across the continent, despite now being warned of the danger.
Players at the top for an unchanged recipe, the Carlo Ancelotti bet is successful. The icing on the cake, he comes to fix a glitch, the 2015 title that his Real had seen fly away in the final sprint. The crown of 2022 offers the Italian a first Liga to garnish his historic harvest: he is the first technician to have won at least once each of the five major championships. And a possible double with the Champions League is more than possible after the exceptional semi-final first leg and the narrow defeat conceded on the lawn of Manchester City (4-3). Without giving themselves time to lose their rank, Real is nevertheless back.