Sport
Real Madrid and Florentino Perez repeating old mistakes
At the end of the 2005/06 season, Real Madrid knew they had to rip up the manual and start again, it had been a humbling season all round and ended with Florentino Perez resigning as president. Arsenal had knocked them out of the Champions League and Barcelona had stormed to the La Liga title after Ronaldinho received a standing ovation from the Santiago Bernabeu crowd, having scored a brace in a 3-0 El Clasico victory. Los Blancos, and Perez’s Galacticos were looking tired, old and jaded. Everybody needed a change.
Barcelona went on to win the Champions League, too, beating Arsenal at Paris’ Stade De France. It was just the second time they had conquered Europe and Real’s record of nine wins was still unassailable, but it wouldn’t have hurt any less for those in the white half of the Spanish capital to watch their most bitter rivals celebrate such blistering success. At the time, under coach Frank Rijkaard and Perez’s opposite number Joan Laporta, the Blaugrana were in the first act of perhaps the greatest spell of dominance arguably ever seen in club football.
The differences in style and approach between both sides couldn’t have been more stark. It could almost be said that Laporta’s policies, while steeped in Barcelona history thanks to his love of Johan Cruyff, were also devised to be the antithesis of Real’s. Barcelona’s La Masia youth academy became central to their squad development, but Perez prided himself on being able to buy any player in the world and market them in such a way that helped them grow in Madrid. Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Ronaldo and David Beckham arrived to join existing superstars like Raul, Iker Casillas and Roberto Carlos.
But while one ideology bore fruit, the other stuttered. Style appeared more important than substance; Perez’s ‘Zidanes y Pavones’ plan, in reference to Real’s own youth product, Francisco Pavon, the type of player it was assumed would know and love Real Madrid enough to accept a smaller salary and carry the burden of relating to fans, allowing Perez to pay the big stars the big cash, caused issues. Naturally, there were cliques within the squad; on and off the pitch, the balance wasn’t right. When Perez left Real Madrid, all of those stars were over 30; Figo had joined Inter a year earlier, Zidane retired, Ronaldo left in January and Beckham and Roberto Carlos followed six months later.
Arguably the biggest factor in the failure of the first term of Perez is that Real Madrid won one Champions League and one league title before he returned in 2009 – was his lack of belief in coaching. After mercilessly sacking Vicente del Bosque in 2003, he couldn’t settle on one man to lead the side and never hired a big name. It was his belief that anyone could succeed with the team he had put together. After he came back, he signed the best players he could once again – Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale, to name just a few – and supplemented that with much better quality on the touchline. Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and, in two spells and his first managerial role, Zidane, have played a key role in the club’s reascension to the top of Spanish and European football.
But four Champions League crowns in five feel like a world away now. Real are back where they were before, a spent force, only this time, their situation is much more complex. When Perez brought his second wave 11 years ago, the cobwebs he had left behind at Real Madrid were blown away by the club winning La Liga under different stewardship. They were primed for his new era. Right now, with the squad feeling the effects of age and imbalance again, the whole club needs surgery and their rivals Atletico Madrid have taken them over. Tuesday night’s Champions League defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk leaves group stage progression in the balance. This is their most difficult moment in modern times, and the route out of it is difficult to forecast.
Perez’s way out was always spending money, and once he hired coaches who found a way to incorporate whichever signings he made, he created a dynasty. But financial issues are riddled within the club right now; the Coronavirus pandemic has really caused them problems. With Eden Hazard, the last elite player to arrive, struggling for both form and fitness, and younger stars like Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo not stepping up, Zidane is facing issues implementing a new era. The likes of Sergio Ramos, a Perez signing from his first spell at Real Madrid, Luka Modric, Marcelo and Benzema are all past their best. There is a lack of quality players in the peak age group,
Even if Perez could spend big, he doesn’t have a monopoly on the market in the way he once did. Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Liverpool are just three clubs who can compete with them; Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe are the best players around right now, and they are both reported targets for Real. A lot would need to change if either were to arrive at the Bernabeu anytime soon.
Zidane is, obviously, in the firing line, but there is believed to be a level of sympathy for his situation above him. Real Madrid are in a collective mess; the squad isn’t strong enough and there is no instant fix. Perhaps the only saving grace is that Barcelona are just as bad, if not worse.
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