The Spanish league is the missing piece for Carlo Ancelotti to be a man of record. In the celebration of Real Madrid’s 35th title in LaLiga, the third in the last six seasons, the Italian coach was raised by the merengue players to cheer him because the victory means a historic milestone for both. Real Madrid beat Espanyol 4-0 with a brace from Rodrygo, a goal from Marco Asensio and another from LaLiga’s top scorer, Karim Benzema.
The win made Ancelotti the first manager to capture titles in each of Europe’s top five leagues: England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France. He won his first league title in 2003-04, when he lifted the Italian Serie A as manager of Milan. In 2009-10 he was in the Premier League with Chelsea during his first season at the London club. With PSG he won the French league title in 2012-13. In 2016-17 he was champion of the German league with Bayern Munich.
Ancelotti has already won six titles with Madrid in his first stage he won a Champions League (2013/14), a Club World Cup (2014/15), a European Super Cup (2014/15) and a Copa del Rey (2013/ 14). His second stage at the helm has already won LaLiga and the Spanish Super Cup.
“Today we have to celebrate. We have an important game ahead, but it’s okay to celebrate well”, said Marcelo, who reached a record 24th title in Madrid.
Real last won the competition in 2018, sealing a third consecutive triumph, while Ancelotti was the head coach who guided the club to its tenth success in 2014. It was Madrid’s third La Liga title in the last six seasons, one more than Barcelona and two more than Atlético in that period. Before that, Barcelona had won six titles in eight seasons, with Madrid one and Atlético another.
“I am delighted, we have fulfilled a challenge. The season we’ve had in the league has been spectacular, with a lot of regularity and stability. I would like to thank all the players for their hard work, attitude and commitment”, said the coach.
Madrid will return to the Bernabéu stadium on Wednesday to host Manchester City in the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals. Madrid succumbed 4-3 in the first match in England. For the game that follows, Benzema did not start on Saturday as Ancelotti rested most of the regular starters, but the French striker needed just a few minutes off the bench to score his 26th league goal.
The 34-year-old striker has scored 18 goals in his last 13 games, including decisive hat-tricks in recent Champions League games.