Santiago Bernabéu as the 12th player against City? Ancelotti gave the green light to the title celebrations due to the players’ merging with the fans

Real Madrid won their 35th league title in Spain’s La Liga on Saturday and the club was faced with the situation of whether to stage a title celebration in the middle of the Champions League semi-final against Manchester City. Coach Ancelotti gave the club a clear green light.

A few days ago, there was a debate within Real Madrid’s management about whether the royal club should celebrate the Spanish league title in the event of a win against Espanyol Barcelona, with a Champions League semi-final rematch against Pep Guardiola’s team due to take place in midweek.

The club was reportedly divided over the situation, but in the end the club decided to hold the traditional ceremony. Team manager Carlo Ancelotti, along with the players, had the main say and did not doubt for a second that celebrating the title with their fans would help the team rally in Wednesday’s all-important game against City.

“Let’s do it on Wednesday,” Ancelotti shouted into a microphone in Madrid’s famous Cibeles Square, where huge crowds of fans turned out. Footage of a happy Ancelotti celebrating the league title went around the world.

Ancelotti wanted the players, the coaching staff and all the staff around the Real Madrid first team to feel the warmth and closeness of the fans and begin to sense the community that exists between the players, the club and the fans.

Indeed, the charismatic coach knows as few people do about the magic of the Santiago Bernabéu that we have seen in the previous knockout stages of the tournament. There is a lot at stake on Wednesday and the final is not that far away, as the first leg at the Etihad Stadium proved.

The 66-year-old, who became the first coach to win league titles in Europe’s top five leagues, is aware of the difficulty of the task given the result in the first game and the quality of the opposition.

However, the feelings and emotions experienced on Saturday afternoon with much of the city of Madrid celebrating the title will remain in the minds of the players who take to the pitch at the famous stadium. Let’s see if the magic of the Bernabéu works this time too.

Source: Marca