La Liga: One story dominated Spain’s sports papers on Sunday morning. The front cover of AS screamed: ‘Atletico party, Madrid shipwrecked’.

While Real Madrid’s ‘BBC’ strikeforce of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo were all on the scoresheet in Saturday’s 5-1 La Liga win over Rayo Vallecano, the man of the match at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu was Blancos midfielder Toni Kroos.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009, and Marca’s editors are sure they are onto a winner.

The Real Madrid supporting press in the Spanish capital were unsurprisingly euphoric yesterday morning, as Blancos fans were reassured that it had not all been a dream – the night before their side really had finally secured the long-awaited tenth European Cup by beating city neighbours Atletico Madrid 4-1 after extra-time.

Barcelona 1 Real Madrid 2

Jose Mourinho’s hints of an imminent return to England after Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final exit to Borussia Dortmund may have been more desperate than they first looked.

Jose Mourinho believes it is “almost impossible” for his Real Madrid side to retain the Primera Division after last night’s 2-2 draw with Espanyol left them 13 points behind leaders Barcelona.