How Real Madrid aim to derail Barcelona’s season

Montjuïc and La Cartuja. Two Clásicos remain. The two lives left for Real Madrid.

It’s now or never and the team are all in, desperate to avoid the black hole of failure. With the Champions League now over, the path is clear: everything hinges on LaLiga and the Copa del Rey. Eight games remain—720 minutes, maybe 750—and then the regular season ends, with only the Club World Cup on the horizon.

Don’t expect Carlo to make major decisions—he might not even be there to make them. Between the last matchday of LaLiga and the first game of the Club World Cup, changes will already be underway.

This club can’t help itself—it has the Champions League in its DNA. The obsession runs so deep that other competitions often feel like distractions. Everyone knows it, and no one denies it. But everything shifts when that anthem stops playing, marking the end.

Winning two trophies wouldn’t just save the season—it would ruin Barcelona’s

Madrid won’t win this Champions League, but the league/cup double is still in play—and not just any double. They could steal it from their eternal rival. It’s a ray of light in the darkness that hangs over their present, a burning nail to cling to. And it could mean everything.

Inside the locker room, the belief is clear: winning both trophies wouldn’t just save the season—it would ruin Barcelona’s. But the mission is tough. Four points separate Madrid from the top, and they no longer control their fate.

The Copa del Rey final comes first—a competition often treated as secondary, even tertiary. But when the opponent wears Barça’s colours, everything changes. Then, it’s war.

Madrid’s season boils down to two Clásicos—a chance to sweeten their own bitterness and sour their rival’s joy. That’s all that’s left now. Big decisions are for the summer. They’ll come once the credits roll. Depending on the ending, the drama may yet become an adventure.

Right now, the only certainty is Alexander-Arnold. Nothing around him has changed. He’s kept his word, and the club is seriously weighing the move—ideally before the Club World Cup. It’s difficult, but they’ll try.

He’d be a vital reinforcement for a right-back position that’s suffered terribly since Carvajal’s injury. Alongside him, the names Huijsen and Zubimendi are also being considered, though nothing is close to completion. Lucas’s continuity looks unlikely, Modric’s future hangs by a thread, and Alaba—one of the squad’s highest earners—could be on the move, as the club is open to offers. His exit would ease a massive salary burden.

As for Ancelotti, he’s on the wire. And now, just eight games could decide his fate. His future isn’t just up in the air—it feels completely weightless.

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No final decisions have been made, but there are no guarantees either. He still has a year left on his contract, and he’s always said that any decision will be taken jointly with the club. In the press conference before the Arsenal tie, he made a point of showing gratitude. He wants to stay—but he won’t be a problem if things go another way. That’s just who he is. Two lives left. Two Clásicos. The last stand.

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