Madrid returns to Di Stéfano

Madrid will return to Alfredo Di Stéfano tomorrow, 76 days after being proclaimed League champion at the Valdebebas stadium, Zidane's men open the competition as local hosts, welcoming Valladolid (9:30 p.m., Movistar Partidazo). Precisely, the Pucelano club was the first rival to visit the Bernabéu last season, and where they drew a draw (1-1) in the final moments of the match.

The match against the blanquivioletas It will be the whites' seventh league match at the stadium of their Ciudad Deportiva, and it is a scenario that only brings back good memories: in his last match played there he was proclaimed League champion after defeating Villarreal (2-1). The whites won the League of the stoppage for the Coronavirus. A League that stopped playing in March to return in mid-June. It was the Whites 'own club who decided that the Whites' first squad would play the remaining matches of the 2019-20 campaign as well as subsequent ones at the Ciudad Deportiva stadium while the Santiago Bernabéu Coliseum finishes its profound modernization.

That way, Zidane's men played the remaining six matches that they lacked at home. They did not miss several punctures from Barcelona (Sevilla, Celta, Atlético and Osasuna) to secure their 34th league championship. And it was the stadium that bears the name of the best player ever, one of its pillars: the whites played six games, resulting in as many wins, with 13 goals scored (2.16 goals on average) and only two conceded (0.33): Courtois left a clean sheet four times. As a scorer, only Getafe endured conceding a single goal: it was from Sergio Ramos transforming a penalty committed on Carvajal.

From the moment it became known that La Liga would resume after having overcome the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Madrid players conspired to win the 2019-20 Championship. For this they were aware of the importance of getting the 18 points in dispute at home. On May 28, just two weeks after his return, Zidane summoned his players at the stadium of the white team. For the vast majority it was their first contact with the stadium. For others, like Zidane himself or Sergio Ramos, it was to step on it again as they did in 2006, at its inauguration in front of the Stade de Reims. What's more, for Zidane he was returning to the stadium where he was forged to make the move to the first team: he directed 28 games to Castilla between 2014 and January 2016. He won 17, drew seven and lost four.

The whites came out to fight for the title from the first moment. His first rival was Eibar and before the break came, Zidane's men won comfortably (3-0), thanks to a great match between Modric and Kroos. Against Valencia, it was Benzema who threw the team on his back, achieving a sensational goal, but the great news was the reappearance of Asensio: he jumped onto the field in minute 73 and 29 seconds later he scored the second goal of the match. The whites were packed and more in the Di Stéfano. In the third match at the Di Stéfano, the protagonist was Vinicius, who scored a great goal to open the scoring. It would be Getafe, in the fourth game in Valdebebas, who would put more problems and demand the whites. Ramos, from a penalty, would put the title almost within reach. Alavés and Villarreal closed the list of visitors. Before the babazorros, Karim and again Asensio sentenced the victory.

Against the Yellow Submarine, Zidane's men, one step away from proclaiming themselves champions, suffered more than expected: after two goals from Benzema, a goal from Iborra with ten minutes to go gave the players some nervousness. But there was no time for more. Madrid won the Coronavirus League at the Alfredo Di Stéfano stadium. While in heaven The Saeta he smiled when he saw the players' mantle to Zidane.