The post Clásico world feels good. La Liga Loca is loose-limbed and lithe without having to contemplate the heavy burden of what it would all mean if X, Y, Z happens in one particular game. In the end, it was X with a bit of Z thrown in and life in La Liga carries on regardless.
The international break is another reason to be feeling relaxed as it stops pesky games getting in the way of proper stories.
Stories such as Valencia fans jokingly reporting to the local police via Twitter that Vicente del Bosque committed a crime in not selecting players like Paco Alcácer for the latest squad.
The Plod thanked the fans for their sense of humour, rather than arrest them for wasting police time, which these days seems to be largely spent on investigating football for match-fixing iffiness.
The big news of the week - although not for Marca who stuck a chat with Diego Costa admitting he had done nothing for his chosen country of the day on the front cover - is that Atlético Madrid had ruined the dastardly plans of clubs like Manchester City and PSG by tying Diego Simeone down to a new contract.
The Argentine’s existing deal was due to run down in two years' time, but such are the fears at the Vicente Calderón that the entire Rojiblanco Christmas tree would come crashing down without the base in the shape of Simeone, that getting the coach to commit beyond that date became crucial.
The most surprising aspect though was that Simeone managed to get through the announcement without mention of building a squad full of ‘hombres!’.
The Madrid press is busying itself with talk of who's in and out for next season. In is Porto full-back Danilo, although the Brazilian himself is playing coy on the summertime swoop which seems to be aimed at annoying Barcelona who would have loved to have picked the footballer up.
Out, in what will not be a huge surprise, is Sami Khedira who apparently told Marca that “I love Madrid, it will be hard to leave this club.” Probably because the German didn’t have a madman trying to boot his car to pieces on Sunday night outside the club's training ground post-Clásico.
Another story that has snuck in, is that eighth place will not be enough to qualify for next season’s Europa League as was previously thought, should Sevilla win this year’s competition. UEFA confirmed there would only be three places for the country, meaning the likes of Real Sociedad and Rayo are set for an enormous drop-off in performance levels once enough points to avoid the drop have been gathered.
