La Liga title better than winning CL

MADRID. — Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said his side’s Spanish La Liga football title win on Thursday night tastes sweeter than any of the three Champions League crowns he has led them to.

Real clinched their 34th league title with a 2-1 victory over Villarreal on Thursday night, after winning all 10 matches since the season returned following a threemonth hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Champions League is the Champions League, but La Liga makes me happier, because La Liga is what it’s all about,” the Frenchman told Spanish network Movistar after winning his 11th trophy as Real coach, his second league triumph.

“This is a tremendous feeling because what these players have done is incredible. I am lost for words because I am too emotional.”

This title win will not go down as Real’s most thrilling, and they had to grind out a number of victories in the run-in, also riding their luck against Villarreal.

But Zidane, who also won La Liga as a Real player, would take nothing away from his side’s achievement.

“We’ve been the best because we have got the most points, and that’s all there is to say. For me, it’s one of my best days as a professional,” he added.

“The players are the ones who have fought for this. It’s true I’ve played my role, but they are the ones who believe in what they are doing.”

The title win was like no other for Real, who lifted the trophy at an empty Alfredo di Stefano Stadium in their training ground, their temporary home while the Santiago Bernabeu undergoes renovation work.

The team will not be doing their usual open-top bus parade to the Cibeles fountain in the centre of Madrid, either, in order to prevent the risk of spreading the coronavirus. — ESPN.