Real Madrid’s players arrived at training on Wednesday morning to find seven teddy bears waiting for them. Lined up on a bush outside Valdebebas, they wore white shirts and a banner had been placed in front of them, alongside a couple of Spain flags with the club badge in the middle where the crown should go. “Grazie, Inter,” it said. The night before, Simone Inzaghi’s side had done for them what they had not been able to do for themselves, at least not yet. Now perhaps it can be their turn, one last chance to salvage something from what has been somebody else’s season.
Barcelona had been beaten: there would be no Champions League and no treble, reason alone to celebrate or at least seek consolation in Madrid, if not the only one. Because if it’s tempting to ask: “Is that all you’ve got?” somehow the answer may still be: “Actually, no.” Four days on from Barcelona’s European exit, Montjuïc hosts the fourth clásico of 2024-25 in a fourth stadium. Madrid have lost the previous three – 4-0, 5-2 and 3-2, seeing their rivals go top of the table, win the Super Cup and the Copa del Rey. Lose a fourth, and they will see them win the league title too, Hansi Flick’s team would be seven points clear with nine in play, a double within reach, while Madrid are left with nothing.
