La Liga

From fancy flops to El Clasico competitors - how Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid are closing the gap on Barcelona following the failures of the Galactico era


Ahead of Saturday's El Clasico, the latest exclusive extract from Graham Hunter's new book on Barcelona looks at how Real Madrid are gaining ground following a period of Catalan dominance

However irksome it has been for Real Madrid to stand with their nose to the windowpane of the world’s recent love-in with FC Barcelona under Pep Guardiola, it’s a million times more galling for Madridistas who bought into a strategy that was originally called ‘Zidanes and Pavones’. In part due to the failure of this policy, this era in Madrid's history would become known as that of 'Los Galacticos'.

BARCA: THE MAKING OF THE GREATEST TEAM IN THE WORLD
EBOOK AND HARD COPIES OUT IN JANUARY 2012, PUBLISHED BY BACKPAGE PRESS

Real Madrid started the millennium as the Daddy of La Liga. Barcelona were close to inept institutionally and football-wise. Florentino Perez had performed the astonishing feat of buying Luis Figo out of his Camp Nou contract - one of the most remarkable footballing ram-raids of all time. Immediately, we were sold a policy which then, and now, has an entrancing sound to it:‘Zidanes and Pavones’.

Real Madrid would annually buy whoever they judged to be the best and most marketable footballer in the world. After Luis Figo, it would be Zidane. This was to be complemented by their cantera, or youth system. Players developed by Madrid, who loved and understood the club, like Raul Gonzales, Guti and Iker Casillas, would stand alongside the superstars. Then, the outstanding canterano was Francisco ‘Paco’ Pavon and so Perez’s vision was christened ‘Zidanes and Pavones’. Powerful, targeted transfer market spending complemented by home-reared, Real Madrid-loyal talents – does it sound identical to another club in Spain which has recently won three Champions Leagues in the space of five years?(No clues).

Looking back across the 11 years since Luis Figo transfer, this plan has been a risible failure. The last player developed in the Madrid youth system to properly embed himself in the first team is Iker Casillas. His full Real Madrid debut was in September 1999. Since then, any Real Madrid canterano of merit has been relentlessly shipped out to succeed somewhere else. The excellent Alvaro Arbeloa was bought back from Liverpool (a parallel case to Gerard Pique and Cesc Fabregas at Barcelona), Jose Maria Callejon returned from Espanyol three years after being cut loose.

Meanwhile Barca, and Spain, flourished thanks to Camp Nou canteranos like Carles Puyol, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Fabregas, Pique, Pedro, Bojan, Fernando Navarro, Sergio Busquets, Pepe Reina, Victor Valdes, Mikel Arteta, Thiago, Isaac Cuenca and others. Those who were sold, usually, had a queue of home-reared talent in front of them, rather than being edged out by expensive purchases.

In the same period,Real Madrid have developed, but failed to use properly, talents like Juan Mata, Alvaro Negredo, Borja Valero, Diego Lopez, Dani Parejo, Javi Portillo, Roberto Soldado, Javi Garcia and Jose Manuel Jurado. Set against Florentino Perez’s original electoral promise of matching the best signings in the world with canterano excellence, it’s a betrayal.

The last player developed in the Madrid youth system to properly embed himself in the first team is Iker Casillas. His full Madrid debut was in September 1999. Since then, any Real Madrid canterano has been relentlessly shipped out to succeed somewhere else

However, the apogee of Madrid’s failings came when they hosted the 2010 Champions League final – eventually won by their coach-elect, Jose Mourinho, and Inter. Beyond the potential embarrassment of Barcelona winning the Champions League at the Bernabeu, the other three teams in the tournament were driven by Madrid rejects.

Wesley Sneijder scored one goal and assisted one other for Mourinho’s Inter against Barcelona in the semi-final first leg. The Dutchman was a key figure in Madrid’s 2008 title win but was sold, at a loss, to Inter. He immediately became a dominant force in European football. Inter trampled all over Barça in that first leg at San Siro and did it with four players sold by Florentino Perez: Samuel Eto’o, Walter Samuel, Sneijder and Esteban Cambiasso.

Arjen Robben added to his tie-winning goals against both Fiorentina and Manchester United by thumping in another screamer to set Bayern Munich on the road to victory over Olympique Lyon (conquerors of Madrid) in the other semi-final. Arjen Robben had been inexplicably offloaded to Bayern Munich before he could form what would have been a terrifying wing combination with Cristiano Ronaldo under Manuel Pellegrini.

Not enough credit is being given to the Special One. The 'Zidanes' of this era are as powerful as the original 'Galacticos'; youth team players are regulary being introduced and, sweetest of all for Madridistas, there is now only a wafer-thin gap between Barca and Real Madrid

The more you investigate, the worse it looks. Since being rejected by Madrid, Eto’o has won 15 club trophies, Cambiasso 15, Samuel 14, Sneijder six. Robben won three trophies in his first two seasons after leaving Madrid while he and Sneijder were pivotal in Holland’s drive to the 2010 World Cup final.

Madrid reached the stage where they were neither capable of producing 'Pavones' nor good at keeping ‘Zidanes’ when they found them. However, given all the controversy surrounding the previous seven Clasicos since it became Guardiola v Mourinho - 21 goals, 52 bookings and nine red cards - perhaps not enough credit has gone to the Special One for the way in which he is ending that trend. The 'Zidanes' of this era are as powerful as the original 'Galacticos'; youth team players are regularly being introduced and, what is sweetest of all for Madridistas, there is now only a wafer-thin gap between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.