Madrid already has the 34th

Also Sergio Ramos, with his hierarchy and his goals (the top scorer of the team behind Benzema!), Has led the team, dragging Varane and Carvajal to his backpack, both with high marks at the end of the course. Casemiro, of course, has once again been that corrective factor in the core that has grown with his imposing physical presence. Modric, elegant and sacrificed at the same time, has also rescued essences from his youth despite his 34 years. And Kroos abandoned the erratic and passive image of last season and has returned to being the Metronome.

And above, Vinicius and Rodrygo were gaining a place in Zizou's massive rotations, taking advantage of the fact that Hazard has been almost unprecedented between injuries and low form states. Asensio has also returned after ten months of absence and that has been great news, perhaps the most beautiful of this alirón. There is no doubt about Benzema, although his goalscoring production could improve, but we were left with great things like his great goal against Valencia at Di Stéfano or the magic heel at Cornellà. An author player who only lacked more goals to be a top among the top. That is why this League has more merit, given that Hazard (due to misfortune with injuries) and Bale (due to their laziness and vocational dedication to golf) failed with a crash. Despite all that, Zidane knew how to handle his cards wisely and has had as a prize a League that tastes of glory. The 34. One more. The old normal is back …

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“Dying with your ideas is living with your ideas,” says Zidane, who took a worn-out team and raised it again with its principles. One of them is to make the squad feel like a team, to involve all the players in the objective and, with some exceptions (Bale, James …), they have done it again. It has shot 26 players, whose performance we analyze below.

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For a team like Real Madrid with 89 seasons in the First Division, any book with statistics on the history of the League is full of footnotes. 'Exiles', games postponed, interrupted … But the journey of the white team to conquer its 34th title will occupy, more than an asterisk reference, at least an entire paragraph for an 'odyssey' that, only in LaLiga, has lasted 11 months …

In recent years, Madrid have seen matches be postponed (happily) on several occasions due to their participation in the Club World Cup. It was not planned to be like this this season, but circumstances have moved several encounters. The first Clásico, scheduled for October 26, had to be postponed to December 18 due to the riots that occurred in Barcelona in the days prior to the game after the 'procés' sentence was known. The 10th matchday went on to take place between the 17th and the 18th under severe security measures in the vicinity of the Camp Nou to avoid altercations that would force the match to be suspended again.

It was going to be the anecdote of the campaign, the caveat that would force in the future to review the data when performing performance analyzes at the start of the season. And the coronavirus arrived. Real Madrid-Eibar went from playing at the Bernabéu behind closed doors … to playing at Di Stéfano three months later. The League was held 93 days by confinement and then it was resolved in a frantic way. Madrid have played the last 11 days condensed in 36 days.

The absence of public took advantage of Madrid to take the matches to Di Stéfano and thus accelerate the works of the Bernabéu. The charming stadium became the 100th coliseum to host a game of the Spanish First Division and will be remembered by a boy of 15 years (and 219 days) who in a Real Madrid-Mallorca became the youngest rookie in the history of the League: the vermilion Luka Romero. In Valdebebas a referee has also taken the alternative: Valencian Rodríguez Carpallo led the second half of Real Madrid-Alavés due to the injury of Gil Manzano.

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Zidane's photograph in Los Cármenes, maintained by his players, may not have existed. In October 2019, the Marseillaise was under maximum scrutiny after losing in Mallorca 1-0. A result that aggravated the two serious punctures in the Champions League, against PSG and Bruges, which could leave Madrid out of the Champions League if they lost in Istanbul. In the absence of public support from the institutional and with the spectral figure of Mourinho keeping pace with the music of Psychosis, Ramos stuck his chest out for his coach “It would be easy to say that Zidane will continue until the end of the season and there would be no debates. Mourinho? Zidane is cured of fright. We know there is a different wand for some coaches and players, I won't say names. ” Another goal of the camero. Zidane saved that situation and soon after it was as if that moment of weakness had been a bad dream. “Zizou is a blessing”, Florentino would proclaim triumphant as soon as the Spanish Super Cup rose in Jeddah.

But if Zizou doesn't do something, it's to hide under the broad shadow of his three Champions. The League obsesses him and seeing his Madrid mistreat it in the 2017-18 season hurt him to the marrow. This League, despite the Covid-19, has no asterisk. Zizou built a good inertia until the Bernabéu Classic and the pandemic has not made him improvise. Upside down. Together with Dupont, the physical trainer, he posed a postconfinition miniLiga almost like a World Cup. Eleven high intensity matches. Eleven finals. “Whoever fails the least will win this League,” he insisted over and over again to the team upon returning to Valdebebas. That's how it was, with Ramos becoming more than ever in his extension on the field and a final streak with Courtois' goal closed tight.

The blackboard. Without that glorious Unit B from 2016-17 this time he has been changing from 4-4-3 to 4-4-2 when he wanted to protect himself, being champion without losing against any of the competition's middle and heavyweights. Neither Valverde nor Setién, neither Cholo nor Bordalás, nor Lopetegui or Celades. Zidane has added to his ingenuity to manage a locker room with flammable material (Bale, James …) the callus that gives the increasing accumulated experience. Tactically it is richer and less easy to counter.

His fifth wound around the league (counting his Scudetti with Juve) is the second as coach and there are thirteen titles as coach of Madrid in just 208 games. He goes out to one every 16 games on the bench. In the locker room, as long as Zizou is their commander, the League is and will remain a priority. He is with his pupils (“Seeing them train daily is the hell”, he has said with his peculiar loquacity) and his pupils, with him. The league effort is not negotiable.

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Benzema has been another footballer since July 10, 2018. On that day, Real Madrid made Cristiano's transfer to Juventus official and a question disturbed Real Madrid players: who will assume responsibility in attack? Bale was expected to step forward, but it was Benzema who assumed that leadership. He went from being in the shadow of the Portuguese (12 goals in all competitions in 2017-18) to becoming the undisputed leading scorer in 2018-19 (30 goals). The irregularity of the team and the dance of coaches (Lopetegui, Solari and Zidane) prevented their goals from being translated into titles, but Karim has maintained this outstanding performance this year to be, finally, the offensive leader in a title achieved by Madrid , after so many years with a secondary role after Cristiano.

For the second consecutive season, he has been the team's top scorer in all competitions (xx goals) and also in the League (xx goals), where only Messi (xx) has managed to beat him so far. That increase in his records in front of goal has not prevented him from continuing to be a '10' in the skin of a '9', because also in the facet of assists he appears in a privileged place: with xx he is the sixth best passer of the championship (xx in all competitions). He does not lead the table of assistants in the global, although he left a pass for the memory that undoubtedly occupies the first place when looking for the best assistance in the League that Real Madrid has conquered. He did it against Espanyol on matchday 32. A magical heel to assist Casemiro and achieve a fundamental victory at home against a team that was risking his life.

Regularity. With 32 years he has found his perfect point of maturity as a scorer and also in the physical section. Aware that the years do not forgive, Benzema has taken care of his preparation to be in the best moment of his career.

Madrid signed Jovic last summer (60 million euros cost his transfer) thinking that Karim would need more breaks. However, the Serbian's low performance has caused Benzema to have started in xx of the xx that it took Zidane's men to conquer the club's 34th League. A small muscle problem made him miss the Spanish Super Cup, but the rest of the season has been available in every game. Zizou, aware of its importance, has squeezed it. And Karim has responded with honors.

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It has an aura and mystical matters do not understand ages. Whoever says that leadership is something intangible only has to touch Sergio Ramos. The League consists of 38 capsules, but the camero has won almost the longest, the most complicated ones, those of the Coronavirus League, as he himself baptized. He has been at times the pichichi of the post-stop championship being a force of nature. Because he turned 34 in quarantine while physically preparing himself at home as if he had to face his idolized Connor McGregor when he returned. “How are you, Churu”, some of his colleagues told him on social networks. The Benjamin Button of Real Madrid.

Because there are also your data. It has been Ramos' best scoring year, the team's second highest scorer after Benzema and he embodies limitless ambition in his Viking warlord look. Excessive and great, he is able to steal in his area and ‘kill’ the opponent. He did it on his goal against Eibar in the first game after the league break. A manual coast to coast. Not only at the Bernabéu / Di Stéfano, he has also been King in the North, with decisive goals at Mendizorroza, El Sadar, Reale Arena and San Mamés. “He is the best defender in the world.” Zidane's word.

Not only is it now, it is also his career until today. This campaign has become the top scorer in the history of LaLiga ahead of Koeman and burns wheels in the statistical Olympus of the white entity. Right now he is fourth in the ranking of matches (649) and is going for Sanchís (710), Casillas (725) and Raúl (741).

With his renewal on the air (although the will of the player and the club is to reach an agreement) and another season of his Amazon documentary ready, he continues to act as a media bastion when it comes to defending the club (“You can't say that we won this League because of the referees, that they stop putting together movies ”, he replied to Barça for his complaints with the VAR). Zizou made it clear: “Ramos is our leader, he shows us the way.” The ‘4’ marked that of League 34 Young people make their way in a Madrid each season more designed to facilitate their transition from adolescents to men, from promises to stars. In a squad with an average of 26.95 years, Fede Valverde (21), Vinicius (20) and Rodrygo (19) have shown in this League that age is just a number. The Brazilians, the youngest of the squad, and the Uruguayan, the smallest room, know how to handle themselves.

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It has taken more than a decade for a Real Madrid goalkeeper to win the Zamora Trophy again. The honor corresponds to Courtois, who succeeds Casillas twelve years after the Móstoles team achieved recognition in the 2007-2008 season. The Belgian has succeeded in a team traditionally characterized by its offensive power, but this season, with a scoring average less than the two goals scored per game, it has cemented the conquest of the title in a rocky defense with historical numbers in the trajectory white club garter belt.

Courtois se va a llevar el Zamora con un desempeño espectacular. Tienen que pasar casi dos partidos para que encaje un tanto. Su promedio es inferior a los 0,6 goles por partido, el mejor entre los porteros de los 98 equipos de las cinco principales ligas europeas., por delante de Alisson (Liverpool) y Rajkovic (Reims).

El segundo Madrid menos goleador de la última década ha compensado sus carencias ofensivas con seguridad en la retaguardia. No recibía tan pocos goles desde hace más de medio siglo: en la temporada 68-69 (21), pero con 16 equipos y sólo 20 jornadas en el calendario del campeonato. La zaga blanca es la segunda, tras el Getafe, que menos remates ha concedido a su rivales y Courtois y Areola los porteros de LaLiga Santander que menos disparos han recibido a puerta.

Zidane ha insistido mucho en la importancia del esfuerzo colectivo en defensa, pero el trabajo individual de Courtois también ha dado sus frutos. Las dudas arrecieron en el inicio de Liga, cuando el equipo encajó seis goles en los primeros cuatro partidos. Pero el internacional belga consiguió darle la vuelta a la tortilla con 18 porterías a cero (Areola echó el cerrojo al arco en otro partido). Ningún equipo ha conseguido en Liga marcarle más de dos goles al Madrid, algo que no pasaba desde la temporada 2008-2009.

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El Pajarito ha sido el 9º en participación (1.816 minutos) en el curso de su eclosión. Ha hecho olvidar el deseo por Pogba a todos menos a Zidane, que tiene aún clavada esa espina. Fede ha pasado de intervenir en 16 jornadas, 6 de titular, en la 2018-19 a las 32, 20 de inicio, en la 2019-20. “En dos años será uno de los mejores ‘8’ del mundo”, dijo Casemiro de él en diciembre. Antes de la crisis por el coronavirus, Transfermarkt le tasó en 60M€, el triple de los 20 de junio de 2019.

A Vinicius también le ha cambiado la vida esta Liga. Su primera en el Bernabéu la empezó en el Castilla y la acabó, marcado por una grave lesión, con pocas oportunidades del regresado Zidane. Y así inició la segunda, pero su empuje y su compromiso defensivo han tirado la puerta: de estrenarse con 18 partidos, 9 como titular, a 28 encuentros, 11 en el once, siendo el 12º (1.264 minutos) futbolista más utilizado. Ha dejado su impronta, sobre todo, en la segunda parte, la decisiva, de la temporada: clave en el 1-0 al Atleti, autor del 1-0 del Clásico del Bernabéu, víctima del penalti ante la Real, responsable del 1-0 al Mallorca… En total, 3 dianas y 2 asistencias.

Lo de Rodrygo ha sido llegar y besar el santo. No pudo presentarse mejor en la Liga: entró frente a Osasuna y vio puerta a los 96 segundos, la diana más precoz de un madridista en el torneo. En el germen de la jugada hizo un control que Zidane aplaudió con un “ha sido la hostia”. Con ficha del filial, ha aparecido tres veces (con dos goles y una roja) por Segunda B, pero tras el parón por el COVID-19 ganó protagonismo y cierra su primera Liga con 19 partidos, 12 titularidades, 2 goles y 0 asistencias.

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Menos en boca del gran público que de puertas para dentro, pero el de Grégory Dupont (1972, Valenciennes) es otro de los nombres propios de esta Liga blanca. Reclutado como sustituto de Antonio Pintus el pasado verano, su papel ha sido especialmente relevante en la recta final del curso, en la que la irrupción del coronavirus hizo saltar por los aires todos los planes. Dupont se marchó al confinamiento con, quizá, el mayor reto de su carrera: que la plantilla se mantuviese en forma durante el periodo sin competición, algo complicado de por sí y más todavía con la concentración de partidos que esperaba con el regreso del fútbol.

Pero había pocos especialistas como el francés para ese viaje por lo desconocido, el nuevo fútbol que ha traído el COVID-19. Él fue el principal artífice de la gran preparación para el Mundial 2018 de Francia, que, de acuerdo con los datos de la FIFA, corrió casi 108 kilómetros por partido en Rusia. Las 11 jornadas de Liga en 35 días invitaban a enfocar la planificación a partir de la semejanza con la Copa del Mundo. Y el resultado ha sido de lo más óptimo, con una lluvia de puntos y una resistencia a la fatiga que ha podido con el hecho de que el Madrid llegase a la jornada 37 con 100,5 horas menos de descanso acumulado respecto a su rivales, por las 6,5 de mayor respiro del Barça.

Una de las claves estuvo en los cimientos de la especie de pretemporada de mayo: consciente de que sus jugadores se habían ejercitado también con profesionales de su confianza, en permanente contacto con él, Dupont pidió los informes de las pruebas realizadas en Valdebebas y se machacó para compararlos y calibrar los planes específicos para tener a todos al mismo nivel. Uno de los muchos detalles por los que en la dirección deportiva, como en el vestuario, le consideran otro fichaje galáctico.