Real Madrid Are Firmly in La Liga's Title Race, and No One Really Knows How

In the stands, they wanted to be angry but didn't have the energy or the care for it. Down on the pitch, Cristiano Ronaldo wanted to celebrate but, well, ditto. 

Ronaldo had just tapped the ball into an open net to score one of those odd, quirk-in-the-rulebook goals where one is sort of offside but not quite. Jese had given it to him, and he'd poked it home, but it barely warranted a smile; it scarcely mattered. 

This was the final intensity-absent sequence and intensity-absent kick of an intensity-absent affair. One that, since the opening goal at least, had felt like a pre-season game. Or a dead rubber. Or a weirdly high-profile, open-doors training session with four officials.

A non-event, essentially. 

For Real Madrid, who walked away with a 5-1 victory from the Coliseum Alfonso Perez on Saturday, this is what clashes with Getafe often are. Prior to this outing, the aggregate scoreline across the previous six meetings in this fixture read 25-5. Now, across seven, it was 30-6. Moreover, this is what these games in the league were supposedly going to be like for Madrid until May: low-key, subdued, the focus elsewhere. 

Well, that was the story until a week ago anyway.

Suddenly, though, this was different.

Despite the procession, despite the absence of a battle, despite its routine feel and despite the celebrations that barely cracked a smile as Getafe's woes continued, this was massive for Madrid. Ahead of their rivals on a potentially pivotal weekend, they'd triumphed easily and early, ramping up the pressure. 

This took Madrid temporarily past neighbours Atletico, who beat Granada on Sunday to move one point ahead. Atletico are tied with Barcelona, who lost to Valencia 2-1 late on the same day. 

It's real, then: Real Madrid are firmly in La Liga's title race, and no one really knows how. 

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

"We're going to sleep just one point behind the leaders and that's important," Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane told reporters in the aftermath of his team's victory on Saturday. "We're getting closer to La Liga all the time."

When asked whether he'd settle for the Champions League if it meant not winning La Liga, Zidane was firm: "No, I won't settle today."

And why would he?

All of a sudden, Zidane and his men are close, really close, in a way no one had foreseen. When Gerard Pique put Barcelona ahead in the Clasico at the beginning of April, the Catalans' lead was 13 points. In the space of two weeks that gap has closed to one, and the league's dynamic has shifted just enough to give Madrid a puncher's chance. 

The momentum is theirs, too.

In the last month, the men from the capital have bulldozed a strong Sevilla, stolen a Clasico, completed a rousing "remontada" (comeback) against Wolfsburg and have waltzed past both Eibar and Getafe, all while Barcelona have gone the other way.

In 30 days, the mood of Madrid's season has changed completely, the extent of the reversal striking, all of it starting with the Champions League quarter-final draw that made everyone think: "Hang on..."

On Sunday morning, the cover of Marca read "They're already there," the message being that the deficit has (almost) been wiped out, the gap closed. Already. 

How did we get here?

The truth is no one really knows—not exactly—even if it's possible to list several factors: Ronaldo's return to form, the reuniting of the BBC, freshness, improved fitness, the impact of the Champions League draw, the importance of timing and the grind of Barcelona's gruelling season. 

As recently as late February, Madrid had essentially conceded the title. After a 1-1 draw with Malaga at La Rosaleda, an exasperated Marca tweeted "Adios to another league." The following weekend, after more pain in the derby against Atletico, Zidane had looked frustrated and strung out, already peering well ahead. 

"Next year we may have to change," he told reporters. "There will be changes."

At the time, those changes felt likely to come within the squad and coaching staff, possibly even the club's structure. Instead, though, change has hit the league table, hopes and more immediate possibilities.

It's bonkers.

Nearly all season, Madrid have looked decidedly average, fractured and chaotic, while Barcelona have maintained a sense of serenity. In the capital, this is a season that started with the sacking of a popular manager, the hiring of a replacement they never wanted, the botched Iker Casillas farewell, the David De Gea mess, Sergio Ramos' contract saga and a hindering pre-season schedule. 

What's followed has been just as tumultuous: doubts over style, strained player-manager relations, a rift with medical staff, a Clasico debacle, persistent injuries to stars, systematic flaws, Denis Cheryshev and "Cadizazo," dire performances against direct rivals, a series of comical press conferences, self-inflicted damage at right-back and yet more managerial turnover. 

Everything that has gone by until now suggests Madrid should be done, buried. And yet, they're not; even though quite a bit more needs to fall their way, Real Madrid are firmly in the title race. 

And no one really knows how.