Madrid on title brink but Celta won’t be a stroll
REAL MADRID can sink their claws into only their second Spanish title since 2008 if they win tonight at a stadium where Barcelona have lost eight goals in their last couple of visits.
At a stadium to which Los Blancos said they’d have be dragged kicking and screaming in fury when the original clash was postponed in February.
At a stadium where Zinedine Zidane’s team were knocked out of the Copa del Rey – a defeat that currently looks like the pitfall which will deny Madrid the first treble in their illustrious history.
Yet Zizou takes his Champions League finalists up to chilly Vigo on Spain’s north-west coast with a spring in his step and the growing idea he’s going to add his fourth and fifth trophies in the space of just 17 months in charge of Madrid.
If Los Blancos do defeat Celta, recent victims to ex-Madrid manager Jose Mourinho in the Europa League semi-final, they’ll transform from strong title favourites to 1-1000 at the bookies given even a draw in Malaga on Sunday would seal it.
When this fixture was postponed in early February, on a weekend when Spain was almost blown off the European map by howling winds, Madrid were furious.
Celta were smack in the middle of the Copa semi-finals against Alaves. The away leg on the Thursday night in Vitoria had been a draining 0-0 draw.
Madrid thought it was obvious the first chance Toto Berizzo’s team got to cancel the Sunday league visit of Madrid was like manna from heaven.
The fact Celta’s Balaidos Stadium had chunks of roofing ripped off it by the storm didn’t seem to bother some in the Madrid media or at the club.
The Vigo mayor called in the Elf-n-Safety mob and announced the game was not going to take place and if Madrid wanted to force the issue by turning up they were “welcome to come for some Galician tourism”.
Los Blancos had that “we wuz robbed” feeling and it sounded like their rivals were taking the mickey. And so the verbals took centre stage.
Madrid asked La Liga to close the stand, force Celta to repair the roof or consider another stadium. It transpired Celta hadn’t nominated an alternative stadium for this eventuality.
Zidane’s board issued a statement, criticising how the situation was being handled and got a stormy reply from the Mayor of Vigo on one of the biggest-audience radio stations. Abel Caballero said: “Madrid are turning a simple matter of protecting peoples’ safety into a universal drama.”
The worry for Madrid was their league and Champions League campaign would be affected by carrying a potentially dangerous away match over until the end of the season.
Yet Celta are a shadow of the side they were in February. With a smaller squad and less talent they’ve played around the same number of games as Madrid and look knackered.
Celta’s president Carlos Mourino said Madrid’s reaction to the postponement had been “pretty absurd” but added: “Anyway, I’ve never hidden the fact I’ve a lot of affection for Barca and the way they play.”
It’s all on the line now. Defeat and Barca should shoe-horn the title home on Sunday against Eibar.
A win or a draw and Zidane is nearly over the line to what threatens to be the greatest season in Real Madrid’s history.
What a game. Catch it if you can.