The calendar caused a kind of dislocation of the joy of Real Madrid and the Bernabéu. When the game entered the final minutes, already with an advantage on the scoreboard, it was not clear whether they were celebrating those three points or the League title, which depended on what Barcelona scored later against Girona in Montilivi. But the championship was now so close, just one point away, that the stands chanted “champions, champions” and the players stayed on the grass to celebrate with the south end. If the victory against Cádiz driven by Brahim’s rebellion did not end up being enough for the Alirón, the next appointment was already away from home, the following Saturday in Granada.
3
Courtois, Eder Militao, Fran Garcia, Nacho, Dani Carvajal, Modric, Camavinga (Federico Valverde, min. 80), Dani Ceballos, Brahim Diaz (Vinicius Junior, min. 73), Joselu and Arda Guler (Jude Bellingham, min. 65 )
0
Jeremias Ledesma, Fali, Javi Hernández, Victor Chust, Zaldua (Iza, min. 65), Álex Fernández (Lucas Pires, min. 65), Escalante, Rubén Alcaraz, Rubén Sobrino (Maxi Gómez, min. 75), Robert Navarro ( Iván Alejo, min. 84) and Chris Ramos (Juanmi, min. 75)
Goals 1-0 min. 51: Brahim Diaz. 2-0 min. 67: Jude Bellingham. 3-0 min. 93: Joselu.
Referee Javier Iglesias Villanueva
Yellow cards Zaldua (min. 37)
The uncertainty of the scenario led to an afternoon that did not quite get going, between Madrid’s few emergencies and Cádiz’s caution. For Ancelotti’s team the match was just one of five in which he can be champion. For Pellegrino’s man, determined to stay in First Division, five points behind Celta at the start of the day, it was a visit with many traps. The leader was in a difficult moment to decipher, even for themselves, with the League within reach, but with their minds on Wednesday, when Bayern Munich visits them to decide who will play in the Champions League final at Wembley.
Faced with this scenario, without knowing if Madrid would rush to end the intrigue as soon as possible, Cádiz went out to protect itself, waiting. Opposite, Ancelotti’s refreshment unit did not show much effort. The stands vibrated only with inconsequential fragments that will appear in the summaries. A drive in the center of the field between three opponents by Arda Güler, a starter for the first time at the Bernabéu. Or with the times Courtois touched the ball, who was making his debut after being out for the entire season due to two knee injuries, a cruciate and a meniscus. Also with the first interventions of Militão, in a trial period.
This Brazilian who has returned is far from the one who broke up in August. It is possible that he has recovered his physical tone, as Ancelotti has explained, but he still needs to regain stage control. Cádiz’s two best opportunities came from two duels that they lost. In the first, Sobrino took him out of the way with a charge and Nacho had to defuse the situation when the attacker was already stepping into the small area. The second was more compromised. Chris Ramos won a ball in the center of the field and accelerated towards the goal. He crossed paths with Nacho, who had to let him continue until he found himself alone with Courtois. The goalkeeper advanced and blinded Ramos with his giant body. The burst of relief at the Bernabéu underlined the distance between Militão and Courtois, the two crossed, after an emergency generated by the Brazilian and resolved by the Belgian.
Madrid exercised a soft dominance in which Brahim’s agitation was even more striking. The man from Malaga lives in a world of emergencies, while the rest of the team had a whole life ahead of them. In reality, he has never abandoned that voracious march. He was looking for spaces, adventure companions and, ultimately, dribbles and dribbles. He is an agitator without needing to come off the bench. He insisted so much that he ended up finding a space on the half turn to shoot into the squad and open the scoring.
When the wheel of changes began, the man from Malaga already saw himself with more company. Ancelotti brought on Bellingham, one of the many starters to whom he had given a break. The Englishman opened up to Brahim what was almost the first ball he touched and he threw himself into the area. There he found the wall, and there Bellingham found another goal, his 18th of the championship, which at that point left him second in the top scorer’s career.
The goals opened a more recreational phase for Madrid, which was joined by Vinicius, also reserved at the beginning. The stands celebrated the moment he came out to warm up like a goal. He then celebrated the football with a rabona cross that Militão headed with a bounce that almost surprised Ledesma. And later Vinicius continued his brief celebration with a running pass from Nacho, an unusual counterattacker, launched through the Brazilian’s corridor, who when he stepped into the area alone in front of the goalkeeper, perhaps in one of his last times at the Bernabéu, gave way the final goal for Joselu, already with the Bernabéu celebrating a title that was on the verge. To a point.
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