REAL MADRID can win their 31st Spanish title this evening, and, in a piquant piece of timing, they will return home to the capital – they are away tonight at Osasuna – to draw up the guest list for the celebratory party. Guess who is coming to dinner next Wednesday? If all goes smoothly, this week’s gran clasico will see Barcelona’s players obliged to line up and applaud the new champions onto the field.

Other rituals, such as the parade of the trophy at the Cibeles fountain will be replayed, and friends, former employees, ministers and movers-and-shakers will pat the Madrid president, Ramon Calderon, on the back for the second successive Liga of his two years in charge.

One man who will not be sending a personal telegram to Calderon, however, will be the manager of England. On being asked by a couple of sharp Spanish reporters if he would like to congratulate Calderon, Fabio Capello snorted: “Ramon Calderon? The players, yes. The fans, yes. But remember, this was going to be the year of Madrid’s treble. Without Capello, this was supposed to be the treble.”

It has not quite turned out that way: the league will be Madrid’s sole trophy this season.

Capello was Real Madrid’s head coach until last June, when Calderon decided to sack the Italian with the explanation that, though Capello had won the club their first title for four years, the style of football they had employed demanded a new coach. That man was Bernd Schuster, whose team will retain the championship in Pamplona if they equal or better whatever result Villarreal, in second place, achieve at home to Getafe. If not, they still have three more games to cross the finishing line of what has not been a close race.

In that sense, the denouement is far duller than it was 12 months ago, when Capello’s Madrid completed an extraordinary comeback after trailing Barça for most of the spring and seized the title on the last evening on the basis of a better head-to-head goal difference. Schuster’s Madrid, as Capello could not help pointing out, have had it rather easier.

“This year’s Spanish championship had two teams in contention: Madrid and Barça,” he said, “and every time Madrid slipped up, so did Barça.” True enough. What was more, Capello observed, “there wasn’t really a challenge by the end: no Sevilla, no Valencia. Last year, on the penultimate day we had Sevilla, Barca and Madrid tied on points, with Valencia just behind.”

So had Schuster’s impact justified the ruthless dismissal of his predecessor? Madrid have had their moments, with the peerless Raul continuing to produce match-winning performances at the club he joined way back in 1995. Artists such as Robinho have thrived in longer patches than under Capello and, as the England manager pointed out, this Real Madrid “had signed a lot of new players and changed their style a bit. They also had Ruud van Nistelrooy injured [he may return on Wednesday], so they have often played with just one up front.”

He could not resist another dig: “If I, Capello, play one up front, everyone says, ‘Oh Capello is so defensive.’ Someone else does it and they say, ‘Hey, here’s another system, that’s good’.” It is widely expected, however, that Schuster will be looking for a new job soon.