The Galacticos Era
Now that Real Madrid has overcome that period which was known as the Galacticos Era, now its time to tell everyone, what was it and why did it happen, where did it happen(well of course it happened in Spain, Madrid) and how it ended.
Galacticos Era started when the President of Real Madrid Florentino Perez started a new policy, under which Real Madrid would buy a super player, which means the best player in the world at the end of every season, no matter how much money it would take.
He knews exacly how to generate revenue, sold some sports fields and made millions for Real Madrid
He did it, to boost Real Madrid as the richest club in the world, to improve Real Madrid’s economic condition and to give the fans what they want to see and that is A Dream team which would consist of, no stars, just superstars, super player’s , more precisely put, only Galacticos.
Then came the time when Real Madrid squad was filled with Galaxy of football stars, worlds best and most marketable attacking players were signed by Real Madrid which not only boosted Real Madrid’s popularity but also improved the quality of football played at the White House, the world was introduced to a new brand of football.
Football, where there were nothing such as defending in numbers, or making rash challenges to get the ball, Real Madrid strategy at that time was, you score 2 goals we score 5 goals.
Real Madrid, at the very best, defended with six players, along with four defenders, makelele ( who was the engine which ran the car known as Galacticos) and one other player from the forwards.
This was the time, every Real Madrid fan, wanted to watch every game that Real Madrid played, because Real Madrid played such neat, easy on the eye and attractive football. The fans came to watch football and had absolute entertainment of 2 hours and left for home happy, dreaming at night about the football their team showcased.
One place for best players, Real Madrid
The Original Galacticos included:They included:
* Luís Figo (£38.7m from FC Barcelona) – joined in 2000
* Zinedine Zidane (£44m from Juventus) – joined in 2001
* Ronaldo (£26m from Inter Milan) – joined in 2002
* David Beckham (£25m from Manchester United) – joined in 2003
* Michael Owen (£8m plus Antonio Núñez from Liverpool F.C.) – joined in 2004 (not really a Galactico in terms of ability, but he was the best forward left who was not playing for Real Madrid at that time, ofcouse there was no C.Ronaldo or Messi at that time, neither had Ronaldinho playing so dominantly as he did a season after that, also Thierry Henry was too monotonous in his play, Owen had variety to his finishing and positioning)
Other players who were eventually considered galacticos:
* Roberto Carlos da Silva
* Iker Casillas (Called, The Saint)
* Raul González
The Galacticos, every name you ever wanted to be in your life was at Real Madrid
So basically this policy was intitially called Zidanes y Pavons, meaning that Real Madrid would buy world’s best footballers and also promote their youth system players (which never happened by the way).
Initially, the policy paid off, when Real Madrid won 2 league titles and 1 Champions League title (Zidane and Figo were on that squad), Ronaldo’s form at Real Madrid lead him to win player of the year award too.
Zidane was unleashing his talent on the football world, scoring impossible goals. Ronaldo was scoring like a machine from every opportunities, beating whole teams by himself. Then there was Figo on the right flank, who could strip any defender in the world with his dribbling skills.
This was the golden age, Roberto Carlos was scoring 30 40 yard screamer regularly, even if his shots did not go in, still they looked maginificent.Roberto Carlos never wanted to beat the goal keeper whenever he tried to score, he always wanted to destroy the keeper to score a goal. Makelele showcased, why he was the best defensive midfielder in the world.
Every Real Madrid forward wanted to take on players, beat teams up, do the little 1-2 moves. Every team that came to Bernabeau was treated with goals, for and against. Every team had to bow infront of the Madrid master class (not every team, but most of the teams including Manchester United).
Perez signed the face of football, David Beckham
With Figo and Zidane in the Real Madrid’s engine room, it was not difficult to understand why Real Madrid made so many chances and scored so many goals. Then came another superstar, David Beckham, who set the Bernabeau on light with his booming pint point crosses and his bending free kicks, it was a thing of joy to see Real Madrid at that time.
Perez was a smart business not a football club president
But then suddenly, there were too many egos in the dressing room of Real Madrid, Vicente Del Bosque (coach of Real Madrid at that time) was able to control that for a period of time, but to have some tactical play as well, he had to drop some big name players.
Ofcourse, players like Zidane and Figo would never like to sit on the bench, so it was very difficult for the coach to come up with a strategy becaue you know these legends, they always have a bad attitude problem, one Maradonna said “you cannot be the best player and a saint together”, now I understand what he really meant.
Zidane and Figo considered themselves to be too big, and did not listen to the coach. Anyway, Real Madrid continued to buy attacking, attractive players who had little defensive abilites which lead to a weak backbone of Real Madrid. Real Madrid did sign Beckham in 2003 but lost Ronaldinho to Barcelona saying that Ronaldinho’s face would sink them as a brand.
One interesting that also happened (which eventually lead to the destruction of the team) was that Perez was not prepared to pay defensive players high salaries and when Makelele along with some teammates demanded that, Perez (to stamp his authority) showed them the door, the coach Del Bosque was also sacked.
One very important thing to note is that, the arrival of Beckham and departure of Makelele to Chelsea started the, trophy less years of Real Madrid and Trophy filled years of Chelsea, hmmm, not so strange when you consider that Real Madrid sold the world’s best defensive player just because he wanted an improved contract.
Change of colours by Makelele, changed the situation for both Real Madrid and Chelsea
The quality of Makelele’s role and his pureness about it can be judged from the fact that, football named a postion in his name, which now a days, we know as “The Makalele role“
Zidane said afterward that Beckham is the gold plating on a car, but what good a car is if it’s engine is sold (referring to Makalele’s departure).
The beautiful game was gone now and the team looked like a bunch of talented players. all trying to impose their ideas on the pitch, at one time Zidane would not make a pass to Figo and Figo would also do the same which, in the end, cost Real Madrid a lot.
After the sacking of Del Bosque, Real Madrid could not play as a footballing unit, like it used to, although Real Madrid still had the best attacking players in the world, still Real Madrid lacked defensive qualities where many times David Beckham was played as a defensive midfielder.
The signing of David Beckham was also stupid because of another reason, which I told my friends too when I heard of the signing, the reason was that Real Madrid already had the best right winger in the world, Luis Figo, so signing of players like these meant that all the galacticos could not be put into a single team sheet.
Which lead to many frustrations, eventually Figo left the club to join Inter Milan after he was not given a two years contract by Real Madrid which he wanted. Owen also left in the same season (2004-2005), while Real Madrid had their troubles, the man they rejected because of his face, Ronaldinho, drove Barcelona to title victories, Ronaldinho who lead the resurgence of Barcelona to two straight league titles and a Champions League Title as well.
Sameul Eto (another surprise) was a Real Madrid player, but Perez sold him to Mallorca, who sold Eto to Barcelona where he would go on and become the top striker in the world, Perez argument was that Real Madrid already has Ronaldo and Raul as its strikers, the same reason he gave for not signing Ronaldinho, saying that Real Madrid already has Zidane in that position.
I think Florentino Perez was a stupid guy and a smart guy. Let me explain. He was a stupid guy because he did not know how to form a balanced team with attack and defense, he signed players because of their market value not on merit or on their footballing performances.
He was a smart guy because he knew how to increase Real Madrid fortunes, he sold some land and bought super players and made money for Real Madrid ( I intentionally have put it in this simple way).
Eventually he also realized that, the galactico policy was not paying off and after throwing the club into a turmoil, he stepped down as the president because of the decline in the team’s on-field performance seemingly hitting an all time low in the 2005-2006 season, exiting in the UEFA Champions League to Arsenal F.C. in the round of 16 without scoring a goal in either leg.
Perez stepped down, Zidane retired in 2005-2006, shortly after Beckham and Ronaldo left in the same season i.e 2006-2007 season, both on bad terms with Real Madrid.
This was the end of the Era which gave all Real Madrid many great moments and some bad moments, all in all, it put Real Madrid on the map of top European Club’s in the world (which it was even before this policy, but now it’s authority was official).
Let us now look at a quick glance to why Real Madrid bought the “ORIGINAL GALACTICOS”
Zidane: Do I even have to write about this guy, probably the greatest midfielder of all time, certainly one of the greatest players of all time, no doubt, he was the silent general, no words just pure raw action. Why he was signed, well:
- Had the greatest first touch of all time
- Had great vision, could pick out any run, any pass anywhere
- Had great shooting ability with both feet
- Had composure and self belief (probably the reason why he played with so much finesse)
- Ofcourse all the money he brought with him in the shape of fan following, sponsors and merchandise sale
- Just had everything you could possibly want from a midfielder, his speed was not like Ronaldo’s though
Makelele once said that “when we did not know what to do with the ball, we just gave it to Zidane, he would always work something out”
Figo : He was also , almost a complete player like Zidane, the only reason why Figo did not win the Player of the Year award three times or more was because he was unlucky enough to have Zidane in his time, who took all the awards leaving only second places for Figo. Figo had:
- Great touch on the ball
- Tantalizing dribbling skills
- Pin point crosses
- Not renowned for his speed, but he was never slow
- Was two footed, had great shooting ability
- Could also take freaking free kicks (his free kicks curved the most, more than Beckham’s)
- Also had great vision and understanding of the game
- His ability to work in tight situation, with no space to work with was amazing as well
- Ofcourse the money he brought with him in the shape of Merchandise sales and sponsors
Who does not recognise that face
Ronaldo: Many call him the greatest striker to have played the game, came to Real Madrid with his huge reputation of scoring picture perfect goals and he lived up to it, treated the fans with his amazing sprints and solo goals. He was at Real Madrid becaue:
- He had great speed, fastest player on the planet
- Great skill
- Great ball control
- Ability to take on players after players
- His finishing was unmatchable
- His feet movement was unchallenged
- His acceleration is still one of the fastest
- His stamina and composure when making those solo runs
- Always knew what the defender was thinking
- Ofcourse the money he brought with him in the shape of Merchandise sales and sponsors
David Beckham: As the name suggests, he was the most known and marketable player on the planet, not neccessarily was the best player in the world in terms of ability at any point in his career but was very entertaining becaues:
- He had that never die attitude, always had that work ethic
- Had the best crosses in the world, sometimes they were called bananas, the way they swung
- Had great looks (yeah, this also counts, not that Zidane, Figo and Ronaldo were ugly but just that Beckham was handsome)
- Looked like a Robin Hood, had that pony and those devastating free kicks and long passes (resembled an archer, with a bow (his feet) and arrows (the ball)
- Ofcourse the money that brought with him for reasons specified before.
