The Guardian.co.uk
Pressures applied to Real politics
Unrest rises as Real Madrid's megastars fail to get goals
Amy Lawrence
Sunday December 1, 2002
The Observer
First came the inferno of a Nou Camp venting hell, fury and a suckling pig's head at Luis Figo. Then came the grisly downpour and gouged pride of defeat at Milan's San Siro. Finally a 14-hour flight to Tokyo to face jetlag and Olimpia de Asunçion in the Intercontinental Cup. It has been a rough week for Real Madrid who, to cap it all, are dropping like flies as a flu bug continues to spread through the squad.
These afflictions are adding to the pressure on Real's coach, Vicente Del Bosque. After the reversal at Milan last week, a respected journalist from a high-profile Madrid newspaper predicted that if Real do not win the Intercontinental Cup on Tuesday, he will go. This placid, steady manager, who has profited from a minimalist approach to management (basically being a calming presence and letting Madrid's megastars manage themselves), has presided over two European Cup winning campaigns in three seasons, and a championship in between. Unrest, though, is mounting as statistics are sold in the media as incontrovertibly damning. Real, the world's most extravagant team, who strengthened themselves in the summer by signing the world's favourite player at that moment, Ronaldo, have won only one of their last 11 proper games. (The reserves did beat Osasuna 4-0 but that was in the Copa del Rey, which has all the esteem of El Worthington Cup.) They have failed to score for three games. White-handkerchief time? Apparently.
The definition of crisis, a word currently bound to the Bernabeu club, is relative. Real Madrid are reigning European Champions, went into their weekend away fourth in La Liga and have five matches to recover from that narrow defeat at AC Milan - no shame frankly - to negotiate safe passage to the Champions League quarter-finals. Just about every club in the world, save a handful perhaps, would suffer such a crisis with good grace. Real feel the tension. The impression is that they require freshening up, and if that is the case it is a little ambitious to expect a new team to be assembled, even by a president as preposterously ostentatious as Florentino Perez. A new coach would be simpler. And by the standards of Real Madrid acquisitions (Figo £40 million, Zidane £47m, Ronaldo £30m), cheaper too.
In a couple of weeks Real conclude their centenary celebrations with a match against a rest of the world team. It is unlikely they will sully the occasion with a sacking. But it might not be too long coming after that without an upsurge in fortunes and atmosphere. So what are the problems? The obvious place to start is Ronaldo. So far, he has not done an enormous amount on the field to justify the fuss over his arrival. There is friction over tactics - at club level Ronaldo is used to playing in teams which revolve around supplying him with ammunition, rather than sharing the attacking load with Zidane, Figo and Raul. The atmosphere in the dressing room was also unsettled by the Brazilian's grand entrance, because of the way the popular Fernando Morientes was treated like an unsuspecting pawn as Perez tried to close the deal. Unceremoniously dropped from the Super Cup team hours before the summer transfer deadline, and pushed in the general direction of any club with funds that could be applied to the purchase of Ronaldo, the team were irked.
Now, with both Ronaldo and Morientes on the club's books, as well as all the other fantasy players, they are still struggling for goals. Michel Salgado complained about it last week: 'Scoring goals is the keystone of football. It is a fact that we do not score enough.' Real are also short of top-class central defenders. This summer, as every other for the past five years, the coach has wanted to boost the defensive ranks. This summer, as every other summer for the past five years, the president has bought another trophy attacker. Meanwhile, the peerless Fernando Hierro gets another year older. Ivan Helguera, who has grown in stature at centre back, is missed in midfield, as is the injured Claude Makelele. That was a much underrated midfield pairing.
Hoisting the Intercontinental Cup - something Real value highly as it allows them to claim they are the best team in the world - would buy some time, in which they may find a formula for Ronaldo and company to flourish. That's the idea. Says Steve McManaman: 'It's a question of regrouping. We have to travel 14 hours to Tokyo, so we'll regroup over there, play another match and try to get back into the Spanish League when we get back.' He raises an eyebrow as if to say thanks for the schedule.
Pressures applied to Real politics
Unrest rises as Real Madrid's megastars fail to get goals
Amy Lawrence
Sunday December 1, 2002
The Observer
First came the inferno of a Nou Camp venting hell, fury and a suckling pig's head at Luis Figo. Then came the grisly downpour and gouged pride of defeat at Milan's San Siro. Finally a 14-hour flight to Tokyo to face jetlag and Olimpia de Asunçion in the Intercontinental Cup. It has been a rough week for Real Madrid who, to cap it all, are dropping like flies as a flu bug continues to spread through the squad.
These afflictions are adding to the pressure on Real's coach, Vicente Del Bosque. After the reversal at Milan last week, a respected journalist from a high-profile Madrid newspaper predicted that if Real do not win the Intercontinental Cup on Tuesday, he will go. This placid, steady manager, who has profited from a minimalist approach to management (basically being a calming presence and letting Madrid's megastars manage themselves), has presided over two European Cup winning campaigns in three seasons, and a championship in between. Unrest, though, is mounting as statistics are sold in the media as incontrovertibly damning. Real, the world's most extravagant team, who strengthened themselves in the summer by signing the world's favourite player at that moment, Ronaldo, have won only one of their last 11 proper games. (The reserves did beat Osasuna 4-0 but that was in the Copa del Rey, which has all the esteem of El Worthington Cup.) They have failed to score for three games. White-handkerchief time? Apparently.
The definition of crisis, a word currently bound to the Bernabeu club, is relative. Real Madrid are reigning European Champions, went into their weekend away fourth in La Liga and have five matches to recover from that narrow defeat at AC Milan - no shame frankly - to negotiate safe passage to the Champions League quarter-finals. Just about every club in the world, save a handful perhaps, would suffer such a crisis with good grace. Real feel the tension. The impression is that they require freshening up, and if that is the case it is a little ambitious to expect a new team to be assembled, even by a president as preposterously ostentatious as Florentino Perez. A new coach would be simpler. And by the standards of Real Madrid acquisitions (Figo £40 million, Zidane £47m, Ronaldo £30m), cheaper too.
In a couple of weeks Real conclude their centenary celebrations with a match against a rest of the world team. It is unlikely they will sully the occasion with a sacking. But it might not be too long coming after that without an upsurge in fortunes and atmosphere. So what are the problems? The obvious place to start is Ronaldo. So far, he has not done an enormous amount on the field to justify the fuss over his arrival. There is friction over tactics - at club level Ronaldo is used to playing in teams which revolve around supplying him with ammunition, rather than sharing the attacking load with Zidane, Figo and Raul. The atmosphere in the dressing room was also unsettled by the Brazilian's grand entrance, because of the way the popular Fernando Morientes was treated like an unsuspecting pawn as Perez tried to close the deal. Unceremoniously dropped from the Super Cup team hours before the summer transfer deadline, and pushed in the general direction of any club with funds that could be applied to the purchase of Ronaldo, the team were irked.
Now, with both Ronaldo and Morientes on the club's books, as well as all the other fantasy players, they are still struggling for goals. Michel Salgado complained about it last week: 'Scoring goals is the keystone of football. It is a fact that we do not score enough.' Real are also short of top-class central defenders. This summer, as every other for the past five years, the coach has wanted to boost the defensive ranks. This summer, as every other summer for the past five years, the president has bought another trophy attacker. Meanwhile, the peerless Fernando Hierro gets another year older. Ivan Helguera, who has grown in stature at centre back, is missed in midfield, as is the injured Claude Makelele. That was a much underrated midfield pairing.
Hoisting the Intercontinental Cup - something Real value highly as it allows them to claim they are the best team in the world - would buy some time, in which they may find a formula for Ronaldo and company to flourish. That's the idea. Says Steve McManaman: 'It's a question of regrouping. We have to travel 14 hours to Tokyo, so we'll regroup over there, play another match and try to get back into the Spanish League when we get back.' He raises an eyebrow as if to say thanks for the schedule.
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