Real questions asked after the most inexperienced Arsenal side of Wenger’s reign dump Madrid out of the Champions League
Since Florentino Perez’s accession to the presidency of Real Madrid in 2000, Los Merengues’ team sheet has read like a who’s who of modern day greats in the game of European football. Ronaldo, Zidane, Beckham and Figo all arrived during his tenure - at their peak and ready to install Real Madrid as an untouchable super power in the modern era.
In such an exciting passage of the club’s history it was with fear and envy that the Madrid side were opposed, rather than the heavy criticism at Perez’s transfer regime that is beginning to rear it’s head. After all, few could argue with his philosophy. Buy the greatest player on the planet each year, reap the financial rewards and assemble a team of unrivalled ability to secure a bounty of silverware.
Unfortunately for Perez the outcome of his apparently risk free policy have been very different. Real have been trophy-less for the past three seasons and the Bernabeu has merely flickered with individual brilliance, failing to witness the swashbuckling team play that Perez had expected.
Real have suffered numerous ignominious incidents in Spain of late, thrashings at the hands of Barcelona and, more humiliatingly, Zaragoza. But their incapacities spilled over into the Champions League last night, as Arsenal highlighted the many deficiencies in their side, a result that will surely lead to the breaking up of the ‘galacticos’.
Against Arsenal, Madrid were lifeless, uninspiring and spineless, qualities that have characterised their season. The main culprits again, were the supposed stars of their generation. The problem is, that their generation appears to have passed, whether they admit it or not.
Too many of them were abject last night. Ronaldo looks hideously overweight and ineffectual, and in this form surely Adriano will take his place in Brazil’s starting line-up. Zinedine Zidane, once the world’s most complete footballer, was jaded and shadowy compared to the glory days of the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 and Beckham, though tireless in his effort as always, made less of an impact on the right than the substitute Cassano, a centre forward, late on.
So where do Madrid go from here? A mass cull of ageing, overpaid superstars might seem a sensationalised reaction but, in truth, it’s the only option for Perez’s successor.
The contrast between the two opposing sides from this tie could not be more marked. Both are enduring difficult seasons, but while Wenger appears to be building for the future, Real seem desperate to cling onto the past. Wenger has been criticised this season for his side’s soft under belly but, when assessing the two team-sheets at the end of last night’s fixture, it is Real that require the major overhaul.
Arsenal, perhaps, need one or two experienced heads to come in and help the mass of young talent sprouting up at Highbury. But Real will surely seek replacements for Zidane, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo and Raul when the summer kicks in and this could prove an altogether more difficult proposition.
Initially, Perez’s outlandish recruitment policy might have been successful, had he installed a capable coach and given him the time and power to forge a decent team ethic. Now, it is much too late and the players at the new coach’s disposal are not as galactic as they once were.
There is a new order in European football these days, one that Zidane and co. do not belong to. Ronaldinho, Lampard, Gerrard and Henry are the new galacticos and that their teams are made up of more sturdy, unstylish professionals to compliment their individual brilliance, serves as a reminder to Perez and all at Madrid. For every Zinedine Zidane, a team must have its Claude Makelele.
This weekend sees Harry Redknapp head back to his old club, West Ham, for the first time and his Pompey side are desperate for points. After a last minute reprieve against Manchester City last weekend, another win here would pile the pressure on fellow relegation strugglers West Brom and Birmingham.