Zinedine Zidane's side was held to a
1-1 draw at Malaga on Sunday and is now nine points behind Barcelona, leaving
the Primera Division out of reach once again, says Ben Hayward.
Real
Madrid can
kiss goodbye to La Liga for another year. Zinedine
Zidane's men
dropped two more points in the Primera Division on Sunday and now need a
miracle to catch Barcelona. It isn't going to happen.
Barca beat Las Palmas in a hard-fought match on Saturday and after its 2-1 win in Gran Canaria, goal scorer Luis Suarez said: "These are the games that win you league titles."
And 24 hours on, those seemed like wise words. While Barca came through its tough test, Madrid flunked its own with a 1-1 draw at Malaga. It was Zidane's third away match in La Liga, all in Andalucia, and those have yielded one last-ditch win (at Granada) and two ties (at Betis and Malaga). Simply not good enough.
Madrid has not won La Liga since Jose Mourinho's second season in Spain in 2011-12. The Portuguese's successor Carlo Ancelotti then claimed four trophies including the Champions League, yet failed to bring back the Primera Division title to the Santiago Bernabeu in his two campaigns in charge and there will be no championship this time around either.
Barca beat Las Palmas in a hard-fought match on Saturday and after its 2-1 win in Gran Canaria, goal scorer Luis Suarez said: "These are the games that win you league titles."
And 24 hours on, those seemed like wise words. While Barca came through its tough test, Madrid flunked its own with a 1-1 draw at Malaga. It was Zidane's third away match in La Liga, all in Andalucia, and those have yielded one last-ditch win (at Granada) and two ties (at Betis and Malaga). Simply not good enough.
Madrid has not won La Liga since Jose Mourinho's second season in Spain in 2011-12. The Portuguese's successor Carlo Ancelotti then claimed four trophies including the Champions League, yet failed to bring back the Primera Division title to the Santiago Bernabeu in his two campaigns in charge and there will be no championship this time around either.
The title triumph in 2011-12 is Madrid's only Liga win in
the last eight years and in that same period, Barca has claimed the Primera
Division no less than five times (three under Pep Guardiola, one with Tito
Vilanova and another coached by Luis Enrique). And the Catalans are well on
course for a sixth in the current campaign.
Barca leads Madrid by nine points and even if Real was to draw level, it would be insufficient unless it was able to thrash the Blaugrana at Camp Nou in the Clasico clash in April and overturn the goal average from its 4-0 loss at home to the Catalans in November.
With just 13 fixtures remaining, it is mission impossible and Atletico now looks more likely to challenge Barca for the title. Diego Simeone's side is nine points behind as well, but can close that gap to six by beating Villarreal at home later on Sunday. Having lost both home and away to Luis Enrique's men, however, it would need to beat Barca's points haul to claim La Liga. It's a tough ask to say the least.
Barca leads Madrid by nine points and even if Real was to draw level, it would be insufficient unless it was able to thrash the Blaugrana at Camp Nou in the Clasico clash in April and overturn the goal average from its 4-0 loss at home to the Catalans in November.
With just 13 fixtures remaining, it is mission impossible and Atletico now looks more likely to challenge Barca for the title. Diego Simeone's side is nine points behind as well, but can close that gap to six by beating Villarreal at home later on Sunday. Having lost both home and away to Luis Enrique's men, however, it would need to beat Barca's points haul to claim La Liga. It's a tough ask to say the least.
For Madrid, it is yet another failure in a desperately
disappointing season. Thrown out of the Copa del Rey for fielding the suspended
Denis Cheryshev against Cadiz, Real parted company with Rafa Benitez in January
and Zidane claimed he would fight for the two trophies on offer.
But several weeks later, only the Champions League is realistically left and the team's troubles in La Liga over recent seasons represent a sorry state of affairs for the world's richest club.
Against Malaga, Cristiano Ronaldo headed the visiting side into the lead and Madrid was somewhat fortunate because he had been in an offside position when the Toni Kroos cross came in. And minutes later, the Portuguese saw a penalty saved by Carlos Kameni in a miss that proved to be costly as Raul Albentosa leveled in the second period and Real had no reply.
Asked afterwards if La Liga is lost for Madrid, Zidane said: "Not at all. It will be difficult because we dropped two points but we will never give up. There are 39 points left. We had a difficult game and we could even have lost. You (the journalists) think La Liga is lost, but neither myself nor the players think that."
But several weeks later, only the Champions League is realistically left and the team's troubles in La Liga over recent seasons represent a sorry state of affairs for the world's richest club.
Against Malaga, Cristiano Ronaldo headed the visiting side into the lead and Madrid was somewhat fortunate because he had been in an offside position when the Toni Kroos cross came in. And minutes later, the Portuguese saw a penalty saved by Carlos Kameni in a miss that proved to be costly as Raul Albentosa leveled in the second period and Real had no reply.
Asked afterwards if La Liga is lost for Madrid, Zidane said: "Not at all. It will be difficult because we dropped two points but we will never give up. There are 39 points left. We had a difficult game and we could even have lost. You (the journalists) think La Liga is lost, but neither myself nor the players think that."
It was the right message, but surely not even the most
optimistic of fans really believe this stuttering side can make up 10 points on
Barca in the final 13 rounds of the championship. There is just no way it will
happen.
"We have to be positive because all of the games we have played up until now have been phenomenal," Zidane added.
Whether fans and president Florentino Perez will agree with that assessment is unclear, but the truth is the Frenchman has come in midseason with limited coaching experience to try and lift a team already struggling under Benitez.
That was never ideal and the 43-year-old needs to be given time to try and turn this situation around. For now, however, it's the same old story for Real Madrid: another season, another disappointment in La Liga - and another reason for Florentino to take a long, hard look at this faltering project.
Goal.com"We have to be positive because all of the games we have played up until now have been phenomenal," Zidane added.
Whether fans and president Florentino Perez will agree with that assessment is unclear, but the truth is the Frenchman has come in midseason with limited coaching experience to try and lift a team already struggling under Benitez.
That was never ideal and the 43-year-old needs to be given time to try and turn this situation around. For now, however, it's the same old story for Real Madrid: another season, another disappointment in La Liga - and another reason for Florentino to take a long, hard look at this faltering project.
No comments:
Post a Comment