Real Madrid – From crisis to crisis
Awarded the title of ‘the most successful football club of the 20th century’ by FIFA, Real Madrid, nine years into the 21st century, seems to have a lot of work to do to retain their crown!
It seems incredible, but the club that has won two Champions Leagues (2000 and 2002) and four La Giga titles since the beginning of the millennium seems to be tottering – comically in the eyes of many – from one crisis to another.
How many clubs can you think of that would fire their coach hours after winning the Champions League for a record time? Real Madrid did it in 2002 with Vicente del Bosque.
How many clubs would bring back a manager who won the league title for them in his one season with the club and then sack him immediately after he repeated the feat? Real Madrid did that to Fabio Capello in 2007.
How many clubs would replace their president, Florentino Pérez, because his so-called galactic politics of bringing the best players in the world to the club had spectacularly imploded, replace him with a president who is later alleged to have rigged the vote, and then elect Mr. Pérez without opposition because he promised, once again, to bring the best players in the world to Madrid?
Well, you could go on for a long time pointing out such eccentricities. But everything would be useless in the eyes of Madrid fans who, rightly, will remind you that it is the richest club in the world, the one with the most commercial success -largely thanks to the aforementioned Florentino Pérez- and, at the time of writing , they were being linked on the transfer market with just about any player capable of tying their bootlaces. Or, in the case of Christiano Ronaldo, probably getting one of his ‘less talented’ teammates to tie them up so he can save energy to score big goals, trying to send off opposing players and sulking when the referee isn’t on his side. I agree with him. There are those who think that Ronaldo and Real Madrid are a perfect match for each other: talented and handsome but arrogant, unreliable and not very good in a fight.
And yet, despite all this sharpshooting criticism, I’ve loved watching Real Madrid at times in recent years. When Roberto Carlos and Zidane combined on the left wing; when Beckham made a curve in the crosses for Raúl to head home; when Sergio Ramos stormed across the field trying to encourage his lethargic team to get up; and when ‘San Iker’ Casillas demonstrated, over and over again, why he is, without a doubt, the best goalkeeper in the world.
Because the Bernabéu is a great place to watch football (for a neutral it can be just as entertaining to watch the crowd when Madrid play poorly) and Real Madrid can be an exciting force when playing at their best.
Spain and the Champions League need a strong, dynamic and attractive Real Madrid: it is part of the fabric of life. Barcelona were a wonderful team this year but they had it too easy; They need to justify their ‘Dream Team’ tag a lot more next season. Getting knocked out in the Champions League quarter-finals year after year isn’t good enough either, and football is made worse for it.
Those of us who were weaned on the team that won the European Cup at Hampden Park all those years ago need to see a great Real Madrid team again, so come on Florentino, get out that checkbook and let’s watch the end of Real. Madrid as a laughing stock and instead give us something to scare those impostors in Manchester, London, Milan and Barcelona, especially Barcelona!
Kaká could be Zidane’s natural successor; let us now have the successors of Figo, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos and Fernando Hierro.