Ecstacy and agony

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While real madrid defeated barcelona in el clasico to inch closer to the spanish league title their loss to bayern munich in the champions league came as a big blow

For Real Madrid CF and their horde of Madridistas, it was the best and the worst of times.

A scarcely believable week saw their La Liga title ambitions reach a zenith, and reduced a hard fought Champions league campaign to a pile of rubble.

Indeed, their entire season has been a chapter from a fantasy as they initially more than kept up with a rampaging Barcelona, before edging ahead and finally delivering the killer blow in an El Clasico to remember.

That man, the other Ronaldo, proved he was as big a legend, and even bigger, than the redoubtable fat Ronaldo.

A classy finish from an acute angle by Cristiano was the winner for Real Madrid in their 2-1 triumph.

In a match that was largely reduced to a parody of itself in previous seasons owing to an array of theatrics and cheating turned out out to be an enth-ralling ga-me of football, with Madrid proving that, when in the mood, they are just as capable of inspiring awe as their Catalan adversaries.

Make no mistake, this is a Madrid squad which cost over 400m Euros to assemble, but as past Galacticos will confirm, an expensive assembly is as useful as a jewellery set on the football pitch.

This Madrid team is a marauding, rampaging, goal- and success hungry unit. 109 goals in 34 matches against 54 for Valencia in third place.

And a 33-point difference to boot. Real’s win against Barcelona en route to their first title in four years signifies a slight tilt in power in Spain, and while it may be premature to write obituaries for Barca, it can be admitted it is reassuring to see them bleed.

The wounded tigers can be expected to fight back, and next season promises to be a blockbuster and a half.

Exit from the Champions League for both Barca and Madrid will rankle all of Spain, but the games seemed anomalies, and the two powerhouses will prove that next term.

There is a hope that teams provide a greater competition to these two, for the greater good of Spanish football.