By Michael Walker in Madrid, on the trail of
the best player in the world as he prepares to make his Real
bow
Mr International: Cristiano Ronaldo’s appeal means the club have
also printed shirts in (clockwise from above right) Chinese,
Japanese and Arabic
They
drove to the outskirts of the city, to stand on the sun-scorched
scrubland where the Spanish building boom has stalled, in
mid-morning temperatures of 90 degrees, simply in
hope.
There might be a
glance, at best there could be an autograph, but the Real Madrid
believers appeared content to wait while the tarmac glistened. This
was Real's training ground on Thursday morning and what it showed
was that, as well as Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema and
Xabi Alonso, Real Madrid have once again got another beguiling
asset on their side: anticipation.
It is a powerful
force at any club and it should make even a seen-itall stadium like
the Bernabeu quiver. There on Saturday night, La Liga returns and,
like a Hollywood sequel, the Galacticos are
back.
Time will tell
if they are to be better this time but, in terms of personalities,
fees and audacity, they are this summer's blockbuster.
Ronaldo, Kaka,
Benzema and Alonso will make their debuts in front of 80,000 in the
towering stands and millions more watching around the world. When
Ronaldo signed in June, 80,000 turned up to see him get
changed.
Television crews
from 32 countries were there, his shirt name was printed in Arabic,
Chinese and Japanese as well as English. This is football, showbiz
and branding entwined on a global scale. Again.
Just in case
there is not enough stardust for tonight's occasion, a certain
Senor Usain Bolt is due to be guest of honour. When Bolt shakes
hands with Ronaldo, the fastest runner on the planet will greet its
most expensive footballer.
It is impossible
to separate what Real Madrid have done this summer from the cost,
but a pleasing side effect for Spain is that Real's £220m-worth of
summer recruits has amplified the country's claim to be the centre
of football's universe.
For Kaka - world
player of the year in 2007 - Real broke the global transfer record
in paying Milan £56m. For Ronaldo - world player of the year 2008 -
Real broke it again, paying Manchester United £80m. The two
previous records had been for Figo and Zidane. It is an astonishing
Perez quartet. And Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery remains on the
horizon.
Yet not all are
impressed. Barcelona are as angry as they are perplexed. In Rome in
May they not only clinched an historic treble of La Liga title,
Copa del Rey and Champions League, in the same month Pep
Guardiola's team went to the Bernabeu and took Madrid apart,
winning 6-2. Gerard Pique scored the sixth that glorious Barca
night. He had hoped to wallow all summer in the achievement but
last week he said: 'You put the telly on and Madrid are the first
thing on.'
Pique's is not
the only dissenting voice. Inside the sterilised cleanliness of the
Madrid training ground, the press room overlooks the strikingly
green pitch on which the first team train. When training starts, an
electronic screen oozes down the floor-to-ceiling window. It's a
black-out. When training ends, the screen rises slowly.
When it did so
on Thursday, the pitch was all there was left. But beyond it was a
vista stretching back into Madrid and a skyline dominated by four
skyscraper towers. Their nicknames are instructive: Figo, Zidane,
Beckham and Ronaldo.
This is the site
of the old Real Madrid training ground. Faced with more than £200m
debt, in 2001 Perez sanctioned the sale of the ground. Real got
£382m for it. Eight years on, it remains a breath-taking
sum.
The profit
helped buy Zidane and, in 2002, the Champions League. A league
title followed in 2003, but then three seasons passed without a
trophy and Perez's galactico policy lost lustre.
Ultimately the first galactico experiment
failed.
Beckham's
presence sold a million shirts, so they claimed, but as Perez
admitted before walking out: 'We sinned from an excess of
ambition.'
But now he is
back, with galacticos II. The excitement Perez cherishes
has returned with a rush but, as before, does excitement equal
cash? Something else asked domestically is: how in the midst of
Spain's worst recession for generations, with unemployment touching
18 per cent, did Perez persuade banks Caja Madrid and Banco
Santander to release a loan for £120m? And what is that borrowing
set against?
'The numbers
don't seem to fit,' Eugenio Martinez Bravo told Sportsmail
this week. Martinez Bravo leads a 2,000-strong supporters' group
called Plataforma Blanca; he stood against Perez for
president.
'The funds are
basically coming from debt and we don't have much more to give to
the banks as guarantees. Like every fan, I am enthusiastic about
the new signings, their quality. The club needed change, no
question, but if we don't win any titles, then it is going to be
dangerous. The only big asset left is the Bernabeu.'
Perez can say
that £87m has been recovered in sales this summer but the overall
concern will chime with Liverpool and Manchester United supporters.
And Martinez Blanco has another: 'On the pitch, will it work? Is
this a team?'
That is where
Manuel Pellegrini comes in. The 55-year-old Chilean has had five
successful years at Villarreal. Pellegrini has demonstrated his
talent but he is sure to be aware that he is Real's 11th manager in
10 years.
Accommodating
superstars on and off the pitch is only one of his tasks. So far,
off it, there have been no problems. Most Real players live in the
La Moraleja district near the training ground but Cristiano - as
he's known here - has chosen Finca on the other side of the city.
Nothing is being read into that and he and Kaka have given a chummy
joint interview in Portuguese to Real Madrid TV.
On the pitch,
Pellegrini has used Ronaldo on the left and Kaka on the right,
behind a front pairing of Benzema and Raul. Further back, Lassana
Diarra and Alonso will sit in front of the back four. It is a
sort-of 4-2-2-2 formation and a worry is that, like the finances,
it is top heavy.
In one way, so
is La Liga. You can get odds of 33-1 against Atletico Madrid
winning the title, 40-1 Seville and 80-1 Valencia. The latter are
e500m in debt and have a half-built new stadium. So there is also
caution: England possessing three of last season's four Champions
League semi-finalists was mentioned this week in newspaper
Marca.
Yet Valencia
retained players of the calibre of David Silva and David Villa, two
of the reasons for La Liga's self-confidence. Kaka and Ronaldo are
two more and mostly there is the tingle of anticipation. Against
Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday night, those who waited on the edge
of town, all around Spain and across the world will be given a
glimpse into Real Madrid's new era. Galacticos II: where
will it end?