This may have done no more than delay the inevitable and no one truly believes in a miracle, but suddenly there was a roar, a release, some life at the Santiago Bernabéu. The day before, Carlo Ancelotti had talked about the many wonderful comebacks over his years at Real Madrid, moments he said would never be forgotten, and now here in his penultimate game in this stadium was another, 20-year-old centre-back Jacobo Ramón scoring with the last touch of the game to defeat Real Mallorca and keep the league title alive for another day at least.
It came late, very late on a grey, wet Wednesday night in front of perhaps 30,000 empty seats, with a manager whose departure was announced two days earlier and a dozen players missing. Ultimately it may not matter and it arrived at the end of an evening that had often felt empty. Yet now it was full of noise, it meant the world to Ramón and for a moment everyone could just go wild, the defender’s strike in the 95th minute and Kylian Mbappé’s goal a quarter of an hour earlier overturning Martin Valjent’s 11th-minute opener.
That leaves Madrid four points behind Barcelona, with two games to play and Barça with three. While Ancelotti insisted “anything can happen in football” the reality is that it also leaves them more or less where they were, waiting for the end after the league was effectively concluded when Barcelona won Sunday’s clásico. If Barcelona win against Espanyol on Thursday night the end will come within 24 little hours; if not, Hansi Flick’s side would still have two more chances to get three more points.
The statements will follow immediately. Madrid will at last officially announce what the Brazilian Football Confederation already has: that Ancelotti is the leaving for the Seleção. Then they will confirm another open secret: that Xabi Alonso is his replacement. And then attention will turn elsewhere, or it would do if it hadn’t already. All of which made this a strange occasion that at times felt like what it was: a game too far, hearts no longer in it. One where there were still tickets on sale at kick-off for the first time this season, hope abandoned.
Those that came were rewarded eventually; there had been grumbles, some timid whistles, frustration, but there ended up being a rebellion, pride, Madrid racking up 39 shots, and a final explosion. An unexpected hero, too. A pair of them in fact.
Other, more familiar names missed out. Dani Carvajal, Éder Militão and David Alaba have missed much of the season. Antonio Rüdiger, suspended after throwing ice at the referee in the Copa del Rey final defeat by Barcelona, had surgery. Eduardo Camavinga had torn a muscle. And then came what you could be forgiven for thinking was an outbreak of season’s-over-itis. Lucas Vázquez and Vinícius Júnior were injured in the clásico. Rodrygo walked out for training on Tuesday morning and then walked back in again. On the morning of this game, Andriy Lunin pulled out. In the afternoon, so too did Brahim Díaz. Aurélien Tchouaméni was suspended.
Madrid were left with 10 first-team players and one of those is the strange case of Jesús Vallejo, the footballer who had been on the bench for 43 games and on the pitch for one, disastrous, 10-minute cameo. Here, he got on again and provided the assist at death – the first of his entire career.
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Bologna win first major trophy for 51 years
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Dan Ndoye’s second-half strike earned Bologna a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Milan in the Coppa Italia final on Wednesday to secure their first major trophy in 51 years.
Bologna got the breakthrough eight minutes after the restart when Milan defender Théo Hernandez’s well-timed tackle on Riccardo Orsolini sent the ball rolling to an unmarked Ndoye, who calmly slotted it home from close range.
The victory earned Bologna their first piece of major silverware since they won the same competition in 1974 and secured qualification for next season’s Europa League.
The match was a thrilling replay of Friday’s Serie A encounter, where Milan triumphed with a dominant 3-1 victory on home turf.
No one could ever have imagined that, although the night could have started well when Arda Guler sent Endrick running right through the middle after just two minutes, only to be denied by Leo Román, making the first of a dozen stops. But Mallorca took the lead on 11 minutes. Dani Ceballos was unable to cut out a pass from Mateu Morey on the right and Valjent swung his left foot to send the ball past Thibaut Courtois.
Madrid’s reaction was timid at first but gathered pace, the shot count rising and Román providing to be a formidable barrier. He made saves from Jude Bellingham, Luka Modric, Mbappé and Fede Valverde in the first half and carried on the same way in the second, resisting until the 68th minute, when Mbappé escaped Morey and Valjent with a combination of elegance and strength and hit a superb near-post finish to put Madrid level with his 28th league goal, his 40th in all competitions.
The hosts kept coming, an occasion made of this. Román kept saving, Valjent cleared one off the line, Gonzalo García missed a clear chance at the far post and then there was Ramón to complete one last remontada for old times’ sake.
