Although La Liga doesn’t end until the weekend of June 3, Real Madrid’s season is to all intents and purposes over following their 4-0 defeat to Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League semifinal.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side are 14 points behind Barcelona in La Liga, with Barca crowned champions last weekend with four games left to play. Although Real Madrid are locked in a race with Atletico Madrid to finish second, their place in next season’s Spanish Super Cup is already assured after beating Osasuna in last month’s Copa del Rey final.
At the start of the year, the pro-Madrid press were talking about the club winning six titles this season, but in the end, they lifted just the Copa del Rey, the UEFA Super Cup and the World Club Cup, in which they defeated Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia and Egypt’s Al Ahly, reports Xinhua.
The Champions League will always be the most important title for Real Madrid and club president Florentino Perez, but this season they have fallen painfully short, as Manchester City dominated them from start to finish at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night, and without the efforts of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who played with an injured arm, it could have been an even more painful defeat.
Asked about his future on Wednesday, Ancelotti insisted that he was confident he would continue, and his future should be secure given that he has the support of the players and has been able to balance the Madrid dressing room.
However, at a club where second place is seen as a failure, there will be doubts until Perez officially confirms Ancelotti for another year.
Whether Ancelotti stays or not may be in doubt, but some changes are certain. The way City totally dominated in midfield, while reducing Karim Benzema to a shadow of his former self in attack, means some big signings are likely this summer.
