COMMENT: Sergio Ramos is wrong. Dead wrong. Real Madrid aren't champions of Spain because they're "the best team". Far from it...

Real are champions because of their captain. Sergio Ramos. Above all else. Above everyone else. It was the strength of Ramos' personality that drove Real to this season's title.

This LaLiga triumph, their first in five years, epitomises president Florentino Perez's approach to team building. With scant regard to team. This is a victory for the Galacticos. The cult of personality. Individual character and sheer will. From Florentino, himself. To his captain Ramos. To coach Zinedine Zidane and, of course, his No7 Cristiano Ronaldo. Take any one of them out of this season's cast and Real are struggling to keep their noses in front. But eliminate Ramos from the equation and the title is returning to Barcelona.

On paper, it should've been a canter. Barca were in transition. The locker room at war with the coach. And their two biggest stars, Lionel Messi and Neymar, at war with the courts. Atletico Madrid? This season was just a step too far. Diego Simeone's players hadn't just reached the red zone, they were camped inside it.

Real should've had this title wrapped up with weeks to spare. That they still managed to do it, though taking the race to the final day, is credit to the leadership of Ramos.

It's been the captain who has put out spotfires wherever they've sprung up this season. Even this past week, with Alvaro Morata turning the air blue against Sevilla and blanking Zidane, it wasn't the coach who pulled the striker aside.

No, it was Ramos. The captain immediately confronting his teammate, demanding he check his ego and buck up his ideas. The Double was still on a knife's edge. Such a show of dissent was not needed and definitely not welcome.

Just weeks previously, the captain did the same with James Rodriguez - and not for the first time. The Colombian, like Morata, went into meltdown after being hauled off against Leganes, attacking anything and everything around him in the dugout. Zidane knew about it. He could hear it. But it was the captain who told James some home truths. Just as he did in December - in Japan - when the midfielder declared he wanted out the following month. Ramos, before Real boarded their jet for Madrid, gave James both barrels for speaking out of turn.

And hierarchy matters little to the Spain international. Even Ronaldo has copped it from his captain, when cameras caught the Ballon d'Or cursing Zidane after being substituted against Las Palmas. The tone was different, but the message from Ramos was the same: we must all row in the same direction.

Isco, today, is celebrating a first LaLiga title and being pushed by the majority of the Los Merengues support to start ahead of Gareth Bale in the Champions League final. But how much does he owe his sudden form surge to his captain?

It was Ramos who spoke to the midfielder in February, questioning his application in training and his commitment to the cause. Ramos had learned from fitness staff that Isco was running two kilos overweight - and they were becoming exasperated over the player's refusal to stick to his personally-tailored diet. Again, Ramos intervened, managing to convince Isco to get himself back on track. And now the player has won a LaLiga title in front of his hometown Malaga fans.

Of course, there's also the inspiration he's offered on the pitch. The last minute goals. The last ditch tackles. Ramos has been spectacular this season.

But as much as history will record his influence on Real's team- and scoresheets this season, it's keeping the place together amid all the chaos which has been just as critical.

And it has been chaotic. The egos of his teammates is one thing. But there's also been Zidane openly questioning whether he'll stick around next season. The David de Gea vs Keylor Navas controversy. Oh, and just to add to the scrutiny, this has all been played out in an election year. The responsibilities of a Real Madrid captain are unlike no other...

"Ramos has the moral and legal authority," big-name local pundit Eduardo Inda stated earlier this season. "Sergio represents the historic essence of Real Madrid in that he never gives up when they are against the ropes."

You couldn't describe the value of Ramos to Real Madrid any better. This has been a title triumph driven by personalities. And none has been more critical in ending Real's five-year drought than their captain, Sergio Ramos.