Thanks to a late goal from Jacobo Ramon, Los Blancos defeated Mallorca on Wednesday night, postponing Barcelona’s title celebrations by another day.
WHAT HAPPENED?
A late goal from 20-year-old defender Ramon helped Madrid claim a dramatic 2-1 victory over Mallorca on Wednesday night to keep the La Liga title race alive for another day. Their Clasico defeat at the weekend saw Los Blancos drop seven points behind Barcelona but they reduced that gap to four in midweek before their rivals play on Thursday night.
THE BIGGER PICTURE Even though Barcelona can defeat Espanyol and regain their seven-point advantage and win the championship, Ancelotti emphasised his team cannot afford to give up on the trophy, regardless of how unlikely it is that their opponents will lose their dominant position.
WHAT ANCELOTTI SAID
Speaking after the game, Ancelotti said: “La Liga is over? Anything can happen in football. We didn’t want to give them La Liga today. They have to play tomorrow. If they win we will congratulate them, if they don’t we will see what happens. If we had played like this in all the games we would have had a better season.”
DID YOU KNOW?
While Madrid were able to claim the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Intercontinental Cup, they were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals by Arsenal and were beaten by Barcelona in the finals of both the Copa del Rey and Supercopa de Espana.
ANCELOTTI AND REAL MADRID: WHAT’S NEXT?
Before taking over as manager of Brazil, Ancelotti has a few more games left as manager of Real Madrid. His team will undoubtedly be watching Barcelona’s match against Espanyol closely, but they have a trip to Sevilla on Sunday night.
