La Liga
Dominant Real Madrid win record-extending 35th LaLiga title
Real Madrid claimed a record-extending 35th LaLiga title on Saturday after two first-half goals from Rodrygo spurred them to a 4-0 thrashing of mid-table Espanyol in front of the jubilant home fans at a packed Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
The win also made their Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti the first manager to capture titles in each of Europe’s top five leagues — England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France.
Rodrygo’s double put Real 2-0 up at the break before Marco Asensio added a third after 55 minutes and LaLiga top scorer Karim Benzema sealed the points in the 81st.
Captain Benzema lifted the trophy after coming off the bench late in the second half as Ancelotti rested several regular starters with Real hosting Manchester City in their Champions League semi-final second leg on Wednesday trailing 4-3.
Real have 81 points with four games to go. They are 17 points ahead of second-placed Sevilla and 18 clear of Barcelona, who have a game in hand, and needed a point against Espanyol to clinch the title with almost a month of the season remaining.
It was a record-breaking day for defender Marcelo, who won his 24th piece of silverware with Real to leapfrog Gento as the player with the most trophy wins in the club’s 120-year history.
“It’s an immense joy,” an emotional Marcelo told reporters in what is set to be the last of the 33-year-old’s 16 seasons at the Spanish club.
“We have won as early as possible, and that is everyone’s job to be celebrated”, Marcelo added, with the players looking towards the clash with Manchester City next week.
“Today we have to celebrate, but we have an important game ahead. If we do it right, there is nothing to worry about.”
Ancelotti believes the celebrations can help lift the players’ spirits to fight back against Pep Guardiola’s side.
“A celebration like this can bring an extra energy to the locker room, it can be good as another motivation facing such a difficult task against a great team,” Ancelotti said.
“The season has been spectacular. Lots of regularity. Consistency. I have to thank the players for their work and their attitude. Today we have to celebrate, not to talk. I want to celebrate.”
On Saturday, Real Madrid eased past lowly Espanyol even with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, midfield inspiration Luka Modric and Casemiro, playing as a defender, being the only three regulars playing from the start.
Espanyol rarely bothered Real’s second-string team, with the home side’s in-form Brazilian forward Rodrygo stealing the show by scoring two brilliant goals.
In the 33rd minute he received a fine pass from Marcelo and struck a delightful shot into the far corner beyond goalkeeper Diego Lopez.
Just before the break, he won the ball in the Espanyol half, shuffled the ball onto his right foot and hit a low shot into the left corner, wrongfooting the keeper.
Asensio extended the lead after the break with a close-range strike and than it was the turn of Benzema, who found space in the area to fire into the bottom corner from Rodrygo’s cross. It was the Frenchman’s 26th goal in 30 league games this term.
It was a display of dominance that earned Real a much deserved title in a historically dominant season.
–Reuters
It was mission accomplished, said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti after his side fought back from two-goals behind to snatch a rip-roaring 4-4 draw on Tuesday for a 5-4 aggregate win that put them through to the Copa del Rey final.
Ancelotti brushed off questions about a sub-par performance by his side and praised his players’ effort in what he considered a highly entertaining encounter.
“We have achieved our goal today which was to reach the final and there is not much time to think about it,” Ancelotti told a press conference.
“It was an entertaining game with some mistakes and a lot of good things. It was fun and we are in the final.
“I never saw ourselves out of it because anything can happen at the Bernabeu. When we have to come from behind, we never give up. We never give up, especially at home, with the fans by our side.”
Ancelotti said David Alaba was not to blame after he deflected two balls into his own goal, calling it “bad luck” by the Austrian defender, but urged his defence to play with better focus moving forward.
“It’s not good to concede four goals in a game,” Ancelotti said.
“Right now we are a team that has a lot of effectiveness up-front, but little balance.
“However, we can’t ignore what we did in attack, scoring four goals against Real is not that easy. I think we are doing quite well.”
Real Madrid, who have won the Spanish Cup only once in over a decade, will play either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in a mouth-watering final in Seville next month.
Atletico fought back to hold Barca to a thrilling 4-4 draw ahead of Wednesday’s second-leg in Madrid.
-Reuters
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Real Madrid’s legendary coach Carlo Ancelotti will go on trial next week for allegedly failing to declare income to Spain’s tax office, the Madrid court which will hear the case has said.
Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of four years and nine months for the 65-year-old Italian, accusing him of having cost Spain’s treasury more than one million euros ($1.1 million) in undeclared earnings from image rights in 2014 and 2015.
The trial will begin on Wednesday and it is expected to last two days, a spokesman for the court said.
Ancelotti, who as a coach has won a record five Champions League trophies including three with Real, must be present for the hearings, he added.
Prosecutors accuse him of only declaring in his tax returns the personal remuneration received from Real Madrid during those two years even though he himself declared himself to be a tax resident in Spain and indicated his home was in Madrid.
They accuse Ancelotti of allegedly setting up a “confusing” and “complex” system of shell companies to hide his extra earnings from his image rights as well as from other sources such as real estate.
A Spanish court in 2023 ordered Ancelotti to stand trial over the affair, but did not set a date.
Ancelotti dismissed the affair last year as “an old story that I hope will be resolved soon” when he was asked about the case.
He took over at Real Madrid in 2013, leaving in May 2015, before being appointed at Bayern Munich the following year.
The former Italy international midfielder, who as a player won the European Cup twice with AC Milan, later managed Napoli and Everton before returning to Real Madrid in 2021.
Aside from his success in the Champions League he has won domestic league titles with Madrid and Milan, in England with Chelsea, in Germany with Bayern Munich and in France with Paris Saint-Germain.
-AFP
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Spain’s former soccer chief Luis Rubiales told Reuters on Thursday he would appeal a court ruling which found him guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent.-
-Reuters
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