Ancelotti reunion delivers the La Liga early for Real

Los Blancos clinch record-extending 35th league title with four games to spare

Agence France-Presse

MADRID: Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti might have thought his days of winning Europe’s biggest leagues were a thing of the past but on Saturday he added La Liga to his glittering list of honours.

Madrid’s 35th triumph, sealed with a 4-0 win against Espanyol, ensured Ancelotti becomes the only coach to have clinched all five major European league titles.

He also won the Premier League with Chelsea, Serie A with AC Milan, Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain and the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich.

And while Ancelotti’s Chelsea pipped Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United to the league by a single point in 2010 the others have all been won at a canter, with Real’s latest success another emphatic title win for Ancelotti, who returned to Real last summer after six years.

Madrid’s victory, and particularly the margin of victory—they sat 17 points clear of Sevilla on Saturday with four games left to play—is in part due to the fallibility of their rivals.

This was Barcelona’s first season without Lionel Messi and while the shell-shocked Catalans improved after Xavi Hernandez was appointed coach in November, they remain a club in the midst of financial recovery and a team in the early stages of transition.

Atletico Madrid, meanwhile, never looked as comfortable as reigning champions as they did as challengers.

They spent the first half of the campaign wrestling with an identity crisis that again put the spotlight on Diego Simeone and ensured their title defence was over before it began.

REUTERS Real Madrid players celebrate with coach Carlo Ancelotti after beating Espanyol 4-0 to win the La Liga on Saturday.