Madrid loses last match of season to forget

Real Madrid put a fittingly poor ending to its worst season in recent memory after losing its last match of the Spanish league on Sunday.

Many of the frustrated fans at the Santiago Bernabeu jeered Madrid’s players after the 2-0 loss to Real Betis. Most of Madrid’s supporters have long placed their hopes on what changes the club will make to an underperforming squad in the summer.

Betis outplayed the hosts from the start and got second-half goals from Loren Morón and former Madrid forward Jesé Rodríguez.

Madrid entered the match with nothing to play for, locked into a third-place finish for the second consecutive season.

Madrid was out of the Champions League and Copa del Rey in early March and without a realistic chance of stopping Barcelona from successfully defending its La Liga title.

Since the return of Zinedine Zidane to take charge of the club after its shock loss to Ajax in the round-of-16 in the Champions League, the team has finished the campaign with a record of 5 wins, two draws and four losses.

“The fault is ours,” Madrid defender Marcelo said. “We didn’t start well and we didn’t finish it well either. In no way was this the season we wanted to have.” AP