Real Madrid-Espanyol Madrid adorns its alirón

From beginning to end, from summer to spring, with those of always and with those of almost never, Madrid brings its 35th League to the Bernabéu museum. A conquest beyond all debate and at the gates of another even more important attempt, the Champions League. That is the pathology of legends: successes last from the Bernabéu to Cibeles and debates take weeks or months. A majority of substitutes signed the minutes of this League, to record that success, even poorly distributed, ends up being everyone’s. It was in a game of low tension, without an abyss to peer into, against an Espanyol in the same, saved and blessed. But it is that the game was not the end but the means for the team to receive the embrace of their own for a title conquered with an iron hand in which the last word was Rodrygo, the last starter and the first substitute, according to the times.

The line-up against Espanyol also contained the one that Madrid will present against City and, in a certain way, what will be aired in the summer. Something seems to have Valverde Ancelotti in store for the Champions League night. And some doubt remains (for him and part of the fans, who were enthusiastic about his great match) with Ceballos, something that stopped happening a long time ago with Isco. He was only surprised to see Modric, the very first sword, among that group of players who have been a main course or dessert during the course.

The match, in any case, lacked drama from the start. It often happens that on such days the preparations for the party devour the sense of duty. Also among the public, who came to celebrate more than to push. The applause for Nadal, who made the honorary kick-off, with Alcaraz in the box, had more intensity than any other during the clash. Even In that climate of relaxation it was noticeable that a Ballon d’Or was on the loose: Modric. Its renovation was non-negotiable more than because it is still in very good use because there is nothing like it on the market.

Rodrygo opens the party

In that balanced game, apparently comfortable for Espanyol, Mariano missed two sung goals. His first header, a meter from the door, crashed into the post. The second was very deviadísimo. Modric’s lasso shipment deserved something else.

To the other side, De Tomás made every effort to demonstrate what could have been and was not. Strikers who do not lose properties outside the area like him (and like Benzema) are scarce. And sometimes it is difficult for them to enter through the eyes at first. It happened to Madrid with him.

Vicente Moreno raised a defense of five, with two long-range wingers. Aleix Vidal on the right and Vilhena, who came for something else, on the left. A very aerodynamic team for the counterattack but that hardly created any danger in the first half.

In that doze, the shock went on for half an hour until Marcelo honored the bracelet and closed his date with Cibeles. He received from Rodrygo and waited for him to find his place in the area to put the goal in luck. There, in the land where the crocodiles live, he is above Vinicius. So he broke through and shot Diego López. Not much later he repeated with the same surgical precision and from the same side after a loss to Yangel Herrera. Rodrygo definitely improves a lot starting from the left, but there, next season, the opportunities will not be there. In any case, that fruit begins to ripen.

At that point the public I was already offering him an impromptu tribute match to Marcelo, the most successful player in the club’s history, a winger disguised as a winger that in a foreign field is still a torment. Medium Marcelo is still capable of moving the Bernabéu.

Vinicius and Benzema serve dessert

With the game and the League ready for papers, Espanyol tried to justify itself with ten minutes of apparent dominance, which was put to an end by Madrid’s third in a against whose key He was in the timing of the pass from Camavinga to Asensio. The French knew how to wait and the Spaniard held back until he found the exact point where the play was no longer defensible. Asensio executed with a precise shot before Diego López left.

With the party underway, it was time for the heroes, Benzema, Kroos and Vinicius. It was probably what was agreed with Ancelotti in that three in one dream: win, celebrate and rest. It was impossible to contain his main managers on the bench at the time of the alirón. That party led Camavinga to play a central role for a little while. Opposite for whatever the future holds.

At dessert there was cake of glory for everyone, because two saves by Courtois reminded us where the reverse of the title was, because Ceballos won over the crowd with a very wide repertoire (he mixed grit and fantasy) and because Isco showed what he still has left. They disallowed a goal due to Rodrygo’s positional offside, which he prepared and closed. Gila also made his debut, a central defender who played for one year in the Espanyol youth team. And there was no lack of goal from And there was no lack of Benzema’s goal from a pass from Vinicius, the couple of the year. 42 goals in 42 games. The Frenchman does sit at the table of Cristiano and Messi… at 34 years old. Y Ancelotti goes down in history as the only coach with the Grand Slam, the five major leagues. The City already knows what there is.