With rain and hail battering Seville's Pizjuan Stadium last Saturday night, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Real Madrid players didn't want to play.
Carlo Ancelotti's team has long given up the idea of defending the La Liga title, and Barcelona this month has completely locked the La Liga title this season.
Later in the same week that Barcelona clinched the league title, former champions Real Madrid were knocked out by Manchester City in the Champions League semi-final.
They will end the season with a Copa del Rey, the only trophy that many people care about (they also won the Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup this season).
As a club source told 캡포탈, the squad is currently "already in pre-season mode".
But they seem to have one more thing to accomplish this season: overtaking archrivals Atletico Madrid in the standings.
After Real Madrid's 2-1 victory over Sevilla, Diego Simeone's side responded immediately, winning Real Sociedad by the same scoreline at home yesterday, just one point behind third-placed Real Madrid. While Real's players appear to be only interested in winning trophies, that will be a big target for the Madrid board when the final round against Athletic Bilbao begins next Sunday.
After Real Madrid lost 4-0 to Manchester City in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final at the Etihad Stadium, Ancelotti held a conversation with club president Florentino Florentino and exchanged views on the future of the team.
The two sides also made a common commitment: hope to get the second place in La Liga and draw an end to this season. In this way, Real Madrid can also overwhelm Atletico Madrid in the standings for two consecutive seasons, and at the same time receive at least 9 million euros (£7.8 million, $9.7 million) more than their neighbors in TV rights income from La Liga and UEFA. ) - this will partly depend on the league position at the end of the season.
Add to that the frosty relationship between the two teams at an institutional level, and it's easy to see why finishing second in the league this season is so important to Real Madrid.
The conflict between the two teams, which began when Atletico stopped public support for the European Super League plan (although sources familiar with the matter said they were still part of the plan), has also led to Florentino and Atletico CEO Xi Jinping. Communication between El-Marin was completely cut off.
Atletico Madrid president Cerezo was the only Atletico executive to try to ease relations with Real Madrid and also participated in the most recent UEFA Super League meeting in Madrid in January. At the meeting, he paid tribute to Real Madrid President Florentino and Barcelona President Laporta respectively.
However, after the start of this Saturday's game, there are signs that Real Madrid already want to end the season.
With the help of Real Madrid's less active defense, Rafa gave Sevilla the lead in less than three minutes.
The assistant coach used the inconsequential game to complete courses related to obtaining a UEFA professional coaching license in the Welsh capital Cardiff. The coaching staff formulated a targeted plan for left-back Mendy during part of this "warm-up match" to help him recover from injuries as soon as possible.
Some members of Real Madrid's coaching staff have described this season as the "toughest" of their careers due to the huge increase in games; by the end of the season, Real Madrid had played 61 games in six competitions. "In addition, the holding of the World Cup in Qatar completely crushed them." This voice also came from the locker room.
It is true that Real Madrid's performance in La Liga has not reached the level it should have been since the halfway point of the season.
But Rafa's goal shortly after the start of the game completely inspired Galacticos' counterattack.
Ancelotti and assistant coach Francesco Mauri (replacing Ancelotti Jr.) began to demand more intensity from Real Madrid's players on the pitch. Mauri was animated and kept urging Ceballos to keep going.
With Sevilla being cross-city rivals of Ceballos' former club Real Betis and his uncertain future at Real Madrid, the midfielder does not appear to need much encouragement. Ceballos was one of Real Madrid's best performers of the night as he kept creating chances for his teammates.
"Although it is difficult to find momentum at this stage, we still try to find it," coach Ancelotti said of the 26-year-old after the game.
That's why Rodrygo overcame an early error to equalize with an impressive long-range free-kick before taking his tally to 19 goals this season (vs. He scored more goals in the first three seasons of Real Madrid), and also helped Real Madrid overtake the score.
The 22-year-old Brazil international missed his hat-trick chance when he was substituted by defender Nacho in the 81st minute. "As much as you want to score, I'd rather they not score us again," Ancelotti explained in Rodrygo's ear as he stepped off the pitch.
At present, Real Madrid has the upper hand in the league duel with Atletico Madrid.
As well as being one point clear at the top of the table, they have scored 74 goals in La Liga this season, six more than Diego Simeone's side, although Atletico have conceded more goals (31) than Real Madrid (35). ball) less.
If Real Madrid can finish second in La Liga this season, it will at least ensure that the team's prospects before the holidays that begin next Sunday night are slightly more optimistic than before.