Last night the whole of the footballing world's attention was focused in Munich, Germany at the Allianz Arena; to witness the two most powerful teams in European football battle out their second leg UEFA Champions League Semi Final. Real Madrid steamrolled Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich over the two legs in extreme fashion, booking their place in next month's Champions League Final in Lisbon.
For Bayern, their dream and ambition of becoming the first club to successfully retain Europe’s most prestigious prize was terminated effectively in the 20th minute after Sergio Ramos's second goal. The third goal created from a classic Real Madrid counter attack finished off by none other than Cristiano Ronaldo sealed their tickets to Lisbon on May 24th. Real Madrid and Carlo Ancelotti now have the chance to win "La Decima"—the 10th European crown that everyone associated with the club craves. The reigning Ballon d’Or winner then scored from a free-kick in the final minutes to complete the beating of Bayern in front of their home supporters. It’s 12 years since the notion of that landmark Decima was formed and now the club's confidence of completing the landmark will be sky high.
With Real Madrid's capture of the Copa Del Rey two weeks ago their season has taken a turn towards success. The morale of the squad, coaches, board and everyone associated with the club is higher than ever. They remain on track to complete the ever clear path towards the treble, which has been the benchmark and expectations Carlo Ancelotti set out for his team during his first campaign at the club.
Where should the credit for Real Madrid's successful campaign be given?
The manager? Carlo Ancelotti?
The transformation of Real Madrid during this season has been drastic... For the good. Before this season, Real Madrid always had the firepower necessary to win titles. The blueprint that Ancelotti has emphasized that would make this team unstoppable is their organization defensively which has been the biggest improvement in the team. His determination and commitment to make this Real Madrid team nearly perfect both offensively and defensively has come with a huge reward. Real Madrid's defensive side of the game has undoubtedly been their most drastic change. Ancelotti, hats off to you. The likes of highly profiled managers such as: Fabio Capello, Bernd Schuster, Manuel Pellegrini and even Jose Mourinho have not managed to get Real Madrid this dynamic both going forward in attack and being some comfortable in defense. Credit must be given where credit is due. The work done by Carlo Ancelotti at the Bernabeu in his first season.Ronaldo, per ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan, has said that “[Ancelotti] has changed everything. He has changed the mentality of the players.” When Angel Di Maria was subbed off in the second half against Bayern, he was greeted by a huge father son like hug by his boss Ancelotti. This shows the types of relationships Ancelotti has created with his players at Real Madrid. This alone speaks volumes of how the players feel about Ancelotti.
The players?
Cristiano ?
The last year and a half Cristiano Ronaldo has been playing the best football in his life. The reining Ballon'Dor winner has been the creator of almost every Real Madrid attack. Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night to set a new Champions League record goal tally of 16. He broke the record of 14—held by three other players, including Barcelona rival Lionel Messi—and everyone is talking about it. That achievement in itself triggered yet another goalscoring feat for the hotshot: his 250th for Real Madrid. He has 176 goals in 163 games in the Spanish top flight, meaning he averages 1.08 goals per match. Which is the highest goals to game ratio in Spanish football history. When Real Madrid paid a massive €100 million to take Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur last summer, there were plenty that thought it was an almighty gamble. His arrival in Madrid has formed what is now known as the " BBC" ( Benzema, Bale, Cristiano). This front three of Real Madrid could be one of the deadliest we have ever seen in the history of football.
His performances have steadily improved and his link-up play with his fellow forwards at times has been devastating. Despite the stop-and-start nature of his first eight months, he has scored 14 league goals in 22 starts and five from seven in the Champions League. Only three players have made more La Liga assists than Bale and one of them is fellow Los Blancos player Angel Di Maria. When you consider it's his first year in a foreign league and country, it's impressive. That achievement is multiplied further as a British player in a non-English-speaking land, as Brits notoriously don't travel well in the game. His winning goal in the final of the Copa del Rey was the announcement he needed. Without Ronaldo he has shown he can carry the weight of expectation for the team.
With the amount of money know being available and spent in football at this day and age, Bale has been worth every penny. He gives Real Madrid a different dynamic option rather than Ozil. They have consistent speed everywhere in the field and are more balanced. Who would've thought? I still don't think that any player in the world is worth that type of money, but for Real Madrid the deal has paid off. The ever improving performances of the center back pairing of Pepe and Sergio Ramos must be looked at as well. Even prior to the two matches against Bayern the the whole back four has improved. They have a great understanding between them and have become one of the best defense's now.
Conclusion: Real Madrid this season under Carlo Ancelotti are in my opinion one of the most improved teams in all of Europe. For me, Ancelotti has totally transformed the way this team attacks and defends. In attack, their counter attacking style is the best of its kind around. They have the ability both to posses and attack with extreme pace and efficiency. Defensively, like I said before; Ancelotti knew what he had to fix with the team defensively and has made them near perfect. Their organization and desire to work just as hard when they have the ball and vise versa has made all the difference. The players likewise have all bought in to Ancelotti's tactical style, and training methods. The combination of Ancelotti and these Real Madrid's players improvement collectively is the reason why they have set themselves up for the possibility of completing the treble.
Real Madrid Player Ratings: Casillas 7, Carjval 8, Pepe 9, Ramos 10, Contreao 7, Modric 8, Xabi Alonso 7, Di Maria 8, Ronaldo 9, Benzema 7, Bale 7
Bayern Munich Player Ratings: Neuer 4, Lahm 5, Boateng 3, Dante 4, Alaba 6, Kroos 5, Schweinsteiger, Muller 5, Robben 7, Ribery 4, Mandzukic 4
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