Real Madrid’s La Liga Triumph

By Silas Hossain

Real Madrid are the champions of La Liga 2016-17, Spain’s premier division football league. The season has been certainly a memorable one, full of late comeback wins, unexpected results against surprising opponents but in the end, Zinedine Zidane’s men prevailed and won their 33rd league title after a gap of five years. We look back at five key elements that helped Madrid achieve this success.

Rotations

It’s impossible to win a league by playing only one set of players. No one has suffered more from a lack of rotations than Real Madrid in recent years. From 2013-2016, Madrid lost out on three league titles after coming short by 3,2 and 1 points respectively. Real Madrid broke Barcelona’s recent stranglehold on the La Liga title due to their superior squad and strength in depth compared with their arch rivals. For example, Zidane made nine changes from the team that lost 3-2 to Barcelona in April against Deportivo and watched his side run riot in a 6-2 win with five different goal scorers. The same players thrashed Granada 4-0, Leganes 4-2 and Eibar 4-1.

Squad Depth

Real Madrid has the best squad depth in Europe, period. They have two excellent goalkeepers in Keylor Navas and Kiko Casilla. The defense features experienced players like Ramos, Pepe with young talents like Varane and Nacho. Carvajal, Danilo, Marcelo have all played well throughout the season in their respective wingback roles. Midfield of Madrid is full of star players, Modric and Kroos can dictate the play in any situation, with Casemiro backing them up with his defensive prowess. They also have the versatile midfielder Isco who can play in almost any midfield positions, the Columbian James Rodriguez who a big threat is going forward, wingers like Asensio and Lucas who work hard for the team. As for forwards, the famed BBC trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, while not their most successful goalscoring season, they have kept the consistency whenever they were fit, complimented by players like Alvaro Morata who scored 20 goals this season, most of them as subs.

Simplicity in Tactics

Zidane gets an unfair treatment from so called ‘football pundits’ who seem to think he only excels at man management but knows very little about tactics. But this season by winning the league, he has put those opinions laid to rest for good. Zidane believes in the philosophy of innovation and tradition. He has stuck with a back four but has asked them to press high. He chooses Casemiro over James as he knows somebody must anchor the midfield while the trio of Kroos, Modric and Isco adds flair in attack. In each of the games, he has tweaked his starting xi and his game plan as per the opposition’s merit.

Efficiency

Real Madrid is a team full of world class players, but with so many players, comes big egos too.  Zidane tackled it perfectly with his man management, he made sure all the big guns get to play in all the big matches and also the whole squad gets their due time against teams who might not feature prominent players, but is a threat if taken lightly. The Spanish media keeps calling the rotated side B team, but on the pitch they exuded quality which was nowhere near less than the first team. Zidane’s sky scraping belief in these boys helped Madrid conquer 5 difficult away matches, with 5 wins, collecting 15 crucial points.

Team Spirit

Real Madrid played as a team, in the broadest sense of the word. There is something in this team, it can be described as the ‘it’ factor, that has seen Madrid continuously coming back from losing positions to go on to win a match.  Many times this season, Madrid have been behind a goal but after 70 minutes, they would score the one goal needed to equalize and even score another to win. Zidane was the catalyst, that this team needed and under him, the team spirit has never been higher.

Real Madrids La Liga Triumph

By Silas Hossain Real Madrid are the champions of La Liga 2016-17, Spains premier division football league. The season has been certainly a memorable one, full of late comeback wins, unexpected results against surprising opponents but in the end, Zinedine Zidanes men prevailed and won their 33rd league title after a gap of five years. We look back at five key elements that helped Madrid achieve this success. Rotations Its impossible to win a league by playing only one set of players. No one has suffered more from a lack of rotations than Real Madrid in recent years. From 2013-2016, Madrid lost out on three league titles after coming short by 3,2 and 1 points respectively. Real Madrid broke Barcelonas recent stranglehold on the La Liga title due to their superior squad and strength in depth compared with their arch rivals. For example, Zidane made nine changes from the team that lost 3-2 to Barcelona in April against Deportivo and watched his side run riot in a 6-2 win with five different goal scorers. The same players thrashed Granada 4-0, Leganes 4-2 and Eibar 4-1. Squad Depth Real Madrid has the best squad depth in Europe, period. They have two excellent goalkeepers in Keylor Navas and Kiko Casilla. The defense features experienced players like Ramos, Pepe with young talents like Varane and Nacho. Carvajal, Danilo, Marcelo have all played well throughout the season in their respective wingback roles. Midfield of Madrid is full of star players, Modric and Kroos can dictate the play in any situation, with Casemiro backing them up with his defensive prowess. They also have the versatile midfielder Isco who can play in almost any midfield positions, the Columbian James Rodriguez who a big threat is going forward, wingers like Asensio and Lucas who work hard for the team. As for forwards, the famed BBC trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, while not their most successful goalscoring season, they have kept the consistency whenever they were fit, complimented by players like Alvaro Morata who scored 20 goals this season, most of them as subs. Simplicity in Tactics Zidane gets an unfair treatment from so called football pundits who seem to think he only excels at man management but knows very little about tactics. But this season by winning the league, he has put those opinions laid to rest for good. Zidane believes in the philosophy of innovation and tradition. He has stuck with a back four but has asked them to press high. He chooses Casemiro over James as he knows somebody must anchor the midfield while the trio of Kroos, Modric and Isco adds flair in attack. In each of the games, he has tweaked his starting xi and his game plan as per the oppositions merit. Efficiency Real Madrid is a team full of world class players, but with so many players, comes big egos too. Zidane tackled it perfectly with his man management, he made sure all the big guns get to play in all the big matches and also the whole squad gets their due time against teams who might not feature prominent players, but is a threat if taken lightly. The Spanish media keeps calling the rotated side B team, but on the pitch they exuded quality which was nowhere near less than the first team. Zidanes sky scraping belief in these boys helped Madrid conquer 5 difficult away matches, with 5 wins, collecting 15 crucial points. Team Spirit Real Madrid played as a team, in the broadest sense of the word. There is something in this team, it can be described as the it factor, that has seen Madrid continuously coming back from losing positions to go on to win a match. Many times this season, Madrid have been behind a goal but after 70 minutes, they would score the one goal needed to equalize and even score another to win. Zidane was the catalyst, that this team needed and under him, the team spirit has never been higher.