Five key factors in Real Madrid's title triumph

Carlo Ancelotti's side romped clear of last season's winners and shock challengers Girona to clinch their record-extending 36th La Liga trophy. AFP Sport breaks down the keys to Los Blancos' domestic success this season:

Nobody expected Jude Bellingham to have such an instant impact in Spain after his move from Borussia Dortmund last summer. The England international quickly established himself as a key player in attacking areas for Madrid with ten goals in his first ten league matches, replacing the departed Karim Benzema.

Although his numbers have dipped in the second half of the campaign, Bellingham remains Los Blancos' top scorer with 18 in La Liga, and Ancelotti also regularly exalts his strong work ethic.

Barcelona looked revitalised last season under Xavi Hernandez, but the champions struggled badly in the first half of the season. Their previously rock-solid defence gave way with alarming regularity and Madrid's consistency, falling to just one defeat in the whole campaign to date, made their march to the title feel an inevitability. Barcelona found new life after January but it was too little, too late for Madrid's arch-rivals.

Real Madrid are admired for their never-say-die attitude and assuredness in big matches. In their key La Liga battles against Girona and Barcelona, they triumphed on every occasion. Ancelotti's side hammered Girona 3-0 in September in a show of strength and then crushed the Catalan minnows 4-0 in February to completely deflate their title bid.

Against Barcelona, Bellingham delivered stoppage-time winners in both league match-ups, firing Madrid to a 2-1 away triumph in October and a 3-2 victory in April at the Santiago Bernabeu. And when Madrid were not playing well in some of the lower-key