Croatian midfield maestro, Luka Modrić, and Italian manager, Carlo Ancelotti, are Real Madrid legends and the Santiago Bernabéu bid them farewell with the honour their beautiful careers deserve; the two most successful in the history of the club with 28 and 15 titles respectively.
Both legends contributed to Real Madrid’s 2-0 victory over Real Sociedad in their last La Liga match of the season at Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday 24 May, 2025.
French forward, Kylian Mbappe, scored both goals in the 38th and 83rd minutes.
With this brace, Mbappe tops the Pichichi Trophy standings with thirty-one (31) goals and the Golden Shoe with 62 points.
In the 37th minute, Melero López was called by the VAR referee Figueroa Vázquez to observe on the monitor an earlier action in which Pablo Marín deflected Arda Güler’s flick using his hand. The referee made the decision to award the Los Blancos a penalty, which Mbappé played and Marrero saved, however, the Frenchman took advantage of the rebound to net his 30th LaLiga goal.
Then came one of the moments everyone’s been waiting for, head coach Ancelotti, who was managing the team for the last time today and recorded 250 wins with Real Madrid, decided to replace Modrić with Chema and the match was halted.
The Bernabéu gave a standing ovation with both teams giving a guard of honour to the Croatian midfieder, who achieved victory in his last match at the stadium that will always be his home.
Photo: Luka Modrić with Real Madrid teammates after being replaced in the 85th minute. X/@realmadriden
