Record-Breaking Real Madrid Get Christmas Break at the Right Time

Real Madrid's players stood on the victory podium. They'd just won the FIFA Club World Cup final with a 2-0 victory over San Lorenzo in Morocco to claim their fourth title of 2014.

It was a stunning achievement, and normally such moments are jubilant affairs. Unbridled ones. But this all felt a little routine.  

Once presented with the trophy, the men from the Bernabeu admirably conjured all the enthusiasm they could. They made a good fist of feigning raw excitement. But it wasn't enough to hide the sense that the competition was little more than a tick-the-box exercise for Real Madrid. At the back of podium, Cristiano Ronaldo even looked a bit bored. 

Los Blancos had won another title, yes. But it's not what you'd call a coveted one. In fact, a good portion of the celebration during the trophy ceremony could have been due to the fact that, like the rest of us, they'd reached the Christmas break after an arduous calendar year. 

Finally, Carlo Ancelotti's all-conquering men could put their feet up. Not for a long time, but for just enough. 

Christophe Ena/Associated Press

"As always at Christmas, these are days of calm and tranquillity," Ancelotti said in an interview with the club's official website in the days after the victory in Morocco.

"It's a time when we like to be alongside our families and loved ones. It has been a fantastic year. With a great amount of effort and hard work, we achieved something very important.

"That brings us huge desire ahead of 2015. In 2014, a cycle began that could be important for the future of Real Madrid."

While there was unmistakable pride to the manager's words, there was also a sense of relief to the way Ancelotti spoke of the importance of the festive period. Real Madrid had gotten through the year in style, but the journey had been a taxing one. 

For it's been a 12-month stretch of unrelenting fixtures, a period that started with a 3-0 victory over Celta Vigo at the Bernabeu and finished, of all places, in Marrakech. In between were title runs in the Copa del Rey and Champions League, a strong challenge in La Liga, added games from the UEFA Super Cup and the Spanish Super Cup, a blistering opening to the new seasons of the three major domestic competitions, 22 straight victories between September and December and that concluding trip to northwest Africa. 

Andres Kudacki/Associated Press

Elsewhere, there was a pre-season trip to the United States, friendlies with Paris Saint-Germain and Fiorentina and bundles of international fixtures for Real Madrid's players at the World Cup and in European qualifying. 

In total, the European and now-world champions contested 63 competitive matches in club colours in 2014. Five more outings in the pre-season took their total number of games to 68, and that's before you factor in the international workload. 

For a player like Toni Kroos, who's taken part in practically everything, the year has taken a serious toll. 

"I can't wait for the summer," Kroos joked with the German press earlier this season, per Inside Spanish Football. "This year I played the entire second half of the season with Bayern, then I played the entire World Cup, then I played in the Super Cups with Real Madrid and now I'm not missing a single match."

Kroos then candidly admitted the effect on such a demanding schedule. 

"I haven't played so much in my whole life," he added. "I'm starting to get tired."

It's not just the games, either. It's the non-stop travelling and all that goes with it—planes, airports, hotels, buses and the logistics of it all. They've ventured to all corners of Spain and three cities in Germany. They've made further stops in Portugal, Wales, England, Bulgaria, Switzerland, France, Poland, the United States and Morocco as a team. As individuals on international duty, they've made stops in Brazil and other European destinations. 

That's four of the world's seven continents visited. For anyone who's regularly forced to travel so excessively, the transit becomes extremely tiresome. 

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As such, the Christmas break has come at just the right time for Ancelotti's men. Though they have a friendly with AC Milan in Dubai on Tuesday, it's still a period in which Los Blancos have just one game—a non-competitive one—in 15 days. 

Legs will be afforded the chance to freshen up. Minds will have the opportunity the relax. Minor knocks will be able to heal. Niggling injuries can be overcome. In short, this staggering collection of stars can steel themselves for the second half of a season that could become a truly historic one. 

It's particularly important given the schedule that's immediately facing them after the Christmas break.

First up, Real Madrid have Valencia at the Mestalla. Then come three clashes with the bruising Atletico Madrid in the space of a month. In between are meetings with a strong Sevilla outfit and a Real Sociedad team who embarrassed them at the Anoeta in August. And then the Champions League resumes.

While Real Madrid are on a phenomenal 22-game winning streak, a break was necessary. For winning is hard as it is. Extremely. Unrelenting dominance even more so. There's a collective sacrifice that must be made to perpetually triumph. The price that's paid is an immeasurable toll on the body. 

Real Madrid have been prepared to pay that price, and it's yielded staggering results. The short Christmas break comes at just the right time to help prolong the run.