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 atReal 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 kick 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. It came with a managerwhose departure was announcedtwo days earlier and a dozen players missing, at the end of an evening that had felt empty for a long time. And ultimately it probably doesn’t mean much to Madrid. But it meant the world to Ramón and for a moment everyone could forget how this season has gone, the defender’s strike in the 95th minute overturning Martin Valjent’s opener after just 11 minutes.
That leaves Madrid four points behind Barcelona, with two games to play and Barça with three. It also, in truth, leaves Madrid where they were, just waiting for the end. If Barcelona win against Espanyol on Thursday night that will come within 24 little hours. 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 only job in world football bigger, as coach of theSeleção. 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.
The league may be mathematically alive, but it was effectively concluded whenBarcelona won theclásicoon Sunday. That made this a strange occasion; for much of the night, it had felt like what it was: a game too far, hearts no longer in it. In the end though there was at least rebellion, pride, Madrid racking up more than 30 shots, and a final explosion.
There were still tickets on sale at kick-off, for the first time all season, hope abandoned. From some of those that came there were whistles when the teams were read out. They were timid, no full-scale protest. And not everyone was there. Dani Carvajal, Éder Militão and David Alaba have missed much of the season. Antonio Rüdiger, suspended after throwing ice at the referee in the dying seconds of theirCopa del Rey final defeatby Barcelona, had surgery. Eduardo Camavinga had torn a muscle three days earlier. And then came what you could be forgiven for thinking was a serious outbreak ofseason’s-over-itis.
Lucas Vázquez and Vinícius Júnior were injured in theclásico. Rodrygo, who didn’t play a minute, 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 has been on the bench for 43 games and on the pitch for one, disastrous, 10-minute cameo. Here, he got on again and even provided the assist at death.
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. He reached the edge of the area but, falling as he struck the ball having been given a slight push in the back by José Copete, the shot was saved by Leo Román. That was to be a recurring theme, onceMallorcatook the lead. 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.
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Madrid’s reaction was timid at first and although it did gather pace, the shot count rising and Román providing to be a formidable barrier. He made saves from Jude Bellingham, Luka Modric, Kylian Mbappé and Fede Valverde in the first half and carried on the same way in the second, resisting until there was only quarter of an hour left. Then Mbappé found a way through Morey and Valjent with a combination of elegance and strength, then hit a superb near-post finish to put Madrid level.
The French forward had underlined once again one of the great contradictions of this campaign: this was his 28th league goal, his 40th in all competitions yet few would call it an unqualified success. He had at least given them a glimpse of hope on the night, the chances increasing, the saves too. Madrid 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 lastremontadafor old times’ sake.