The Los Blancos won their first La Liga title since 2012 after beating beaten the Catalans side at the top of the standings. Zinedine Zidane’s team were where dealt a title blow when they lost 2-3 to Barcelona in the El Classico at the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid courtesy of a late Lionel Messi strike at the edge of the box.
This all but rekindled Barcelona title push thus dampened Madrid’s season campaign as they trailed their arch-rivals on goal difference though with a game in hand. Real made the most of their more number of matches to beat Barcelona to the title by with just three points on the last day of the season.
With the La Liga title already won by Real Madrid some weeks ago, we cast our mind back as we evaluate three reasons Why Madrid edged Barcelona to the League crown.
Incredible goal scoring Performance from Ronaldo
The talismanic forward was at the forefront as Real claimed the La Liga title on the final day of the season. Goals from the Portuguese marksman and French forward Karim Benzema was all the visitors needed away from home as they defeated Malaga 0-2 in front of their home supporters.
It was one of the Portuguese talismanic showings that saw off Sevilla 4-1 at the Bernabeu as he grabbed a brace on the occasion with a superb strike for the second goal before Stevan Jovetic got a consolation for Sevilla.
He was instrumental all through the season for his side as he got the goal at the crucial moment especially when he powered a brilliant header into the net to give Real Madrid a 1-0 lead in the 2-1 defeat of Valencia at the Bernabeu en route to the title.
Real Madrid got Squad Depth
The Real Madrid side is brimming with depth, unlike Barcelona who has fewer personnel within their squad to count on during match days.
Madrid for some part of the season lined up without Gareth Bale and also players like Benzema was out at some point in the season but the likes of Alvaro Morata, held sway in the attack alongside James Rodriguez (want away player) who is linked to several top teams in the transfer market.
Players like Isco had deputised for his Madrid teammates and put up a positive performance as Real rose to the occasion to win games against all odds.
The likes of Nacho Monreal and Brazilian right back Danilo have replaced the duo of Marcelo and Dani Carvajal at the full back position at some points in the season and this afforded the Los Blancos side the chance to reshuffle their team and maintain some level of physical balance en route to their La Liga triumph.
Some Individual Match interventions
The Los Blancos side is certainly a team of high quality and pedigree in all standards but they are arguably a balanced side as the team showed some kind of defensive irregularities within the course of a game. These have seen Madrid let in some avoidable goals especially due to lack of concentration and defensive positioning.
This led to Madrid falling behind in some matches only needing individual brilliance and winning mentality to prevail in some match situation when games appears to be slipping away from their hands.
In one of those matches particularly against Valencia Marcelo restored Madrid’s lead to make it 2-1 after Valencia had equalised some moment earlier to make it 1-1.
The Brazilian individual brilliance and will produced the winner to give his side the advantage after Valencia’s equaliser as the home fans went ecstatic in the wake of the goal celebration prompting Madrid to picked up the maximum points to still be in contention for the La Liga title in the season.
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