Real Madrid’s Tainted League Victory

The whites secure their fourth title in fifteen years, a poor record that needed rectifying. As seen in the pandemic-hit season and the 2016-2017 campaign, refereeing decisions have once again proven decisive. Top coaches often assert that winning the league title brings them the most satisfaction because, unlike other tournaments, it requires consistent competitiveness to finish first. It’s a marathon where the best usually prevail. That’s why Real Madrid has only clinched four regularity championships in the last fifteen years, a situation that needed addressing and is indeed being addressed because, with the title they will win this season, it will be three in the last five years.

Interestingly, ever since the VAR came into play, things have been much better for the whites. This season’s league resembles the 2019-2020 one when, after the tournament was halted due to the pandemic, it resumed without spectators, and the final stretch was marked by farcical refereeing decisions that always favored Real Madrid. Thanks to constant VAR interventions, they surpassed Barcelona in the standings.

This time, however, there was no need for a comeback because, from the start, direct or indirect refereeing decisions favored Ancelotti’s side. The penalty not given to Araujo in Getafe for Gavi’s non-existent handball, or the disallowed goal for Joao Félix in Granada due to a phantom offside by Ferran Torres, or Tchouameni’s penalty on Araujo in the first leg of the Clásico in Montjuïc. The memory of the recent Bernabéu Clásico is still fresh. These are just four examples of decisions that prevented Barcelona from contending for a title that would have marked a second consecutive triumph in one of the club’s worst economic and sporting periods in recent years. It was too harsh for the sociological Madridismo to allow such a scenario. It was time to act, and they did so effectively. Even indirectly, as seen when, before playing in Chamartín, Girona saw their squad depleted against Real Sociedad to face Real Madrid at a disadvantage. Just ask Almería what happened in Madrid.

The 2023-2024 league will always be remembered as one where refereeing decisions once again played a crucial role in halting Barcelona’s sporting resurgence. That’s how Madrid wins!