Real Madrid’s president Florentino Perez called for Karim Benzema to be given the Ballon d’Or after he scored his 20th and 21st goals of the season to hand his team the title.
Madrid captain Sergio Ramos then asked Perez to give him a new contract, and Zinedine Zidane said winning the league topped his Champions League hat-trick.
There was a surreal feel to Madrid’s 34th league title win with the players celebrating on the pitch at the end of the game but it took nothing away from the satisfaction of having beaten Lionel Messi’s Barcelona and done it without Cristiano Ronaldo.
‘Benzema should be the Balon d’Or,’ said Madrid’s president. ‘I have not seen any player have as good a year as him.’ Real Madrid’s French forward has 21 goals for the season and is just two behind La Liga top scorer Messi.
Zidane also paid tribute to his talisman as he celebrated winning an incredible 11th trophy in just 209 games. The win ratio works out at a piece of silverware every 19 matches.
‘Winning La Liga is the best,’ said Zidane. ‘Champions League is Champions League but this is 38 games. What these players have achieved since the season restarted is incredible.’
If Benzema has performed at one end of the pitch then Thibaut Courtois has done his part at the other end of the pitch.
‘When we came back from lockdown after two months without training, to win ten games is incredible,’ said the former Chelsea keeper.
‘I believed in my team. I believed we could do this. [When I said it] I got plenty of stick from Catalonia saying that I should shut up but the team has demonstrated [that I was right]. We have done it.’
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