Tweet
Real Madrid's antiquated private jet, La Saeta, will remain grounded at Barajas airport. Not, as the Catalan media gleefully pointed out, because it breaks noise pollution laws and is prohibited from flying over Germany to get to Moscow, but because Real Madrid won't be traveling to the Russian capital at all.
On the day Madrid president Ramón Calderón proudly unveiled the MD-83 embossed with club logos, he boasted that it would fly to Moscow for the Champions League final at the Luzhniki stadium on May 21. But a defeat to AS Roma in the last 16 put an end to that.
This has not been a good Champions League for the Spanish, with only Barcelona making it past the round of 16. Valencia crashed out in the group stage, not even collecting the consolation prize of a UEFA Cup place in the midst of its worst run in 20 years, and Sevilla went down 3-2 on penalties to Fenerbahçe in the first knockout round after a 5-5 aggregate draw.
The following day, Madrid was knocked out, too, its dreams of a 10th European Cup going up in smoke after losing 2-1 at home to Roma -- it had lost by the same score in the first leg.
Real is the Spanish champion and current league leader, but El Mundo's headline summed up the general feeling about the club: "Too mediocre for Europe." Four successive exits at the same stage tell their own story.
"That's not a slip-up, it's a failure," wrote columnist Juanma Trueba in Madrid daily AS. "We have been satisfied with our domestic experience but the rest of Europe, England in particular, travels at a different speed."
AS' match report ran: "When you lose and you deserve it, you don't feel pain, you feel something even worse: resignation."
Roma was a worthy winner, cruelly exposing Madrid's weaknesses without the injured Ruud van Nistelrooy, who almost single-handedly kept the team in the domestic title race last term, and Sergio Ramos, who disguises the imbalance in a team that plays without a right-sided midfielder.
If coach Bernd Schuster was aware of the team's weaknesses, he wasn't letting on before the game. When asked if the side had practiced penalties, he snapped: "What's the matter with you? Doesn't anyone round here think we're going to win?" And after the match, he insisted: "This wasn't a defeat."
If he really believes that, El Pais' Diego Torres pointed out, "He has problems; he is suffering from some sort of denial syndrome. In his mind, Madrid is a victorious, gilded team where the defeats don't happen."
But of course they do -- and there have been a lot of late. All the euphoria looks rather foolish now, the boasts rather vacuous. Calderón's claim that Madrid is a "footballing machine" reckoned without a breakdown, the wheels grinding to a halt, the engine spluttering. There is no potential treble to talk about: Real must now concentrate solely on the Spanish league.
It had all looked so rosy just before Christmas, when Madrid's 1-0 league win at Barcelona put it seven points ahead of their rivals. Since the New Year, however, los Merengues have lost nine games: five in the league -- at Almería, Betis and Deportivo La Coruña and home to Getafe and Valencia -- the two Roma ties and home and away to Mallorca in the Copa del Rey.
True, they still led Barça by nine points in mid-April, but Schuster doesn't have a great run-in record. Xerez and Levante both suffered dramatic collapses during the second half of the season under the German. Furthermore, he has shown an odd reluctance to change his underperforming team around, and then there is the presence of physical trainer Walter Di Salvo, the man who was in charge when Real imploded and lost five successive games and the league title at the end of the 2003-04 season.
Schuster's continued prickliness and arrogance have not won over many people, and every defeat is blamed on the referee. Madrid's genuinely impressive performances this season can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Fabio Capello was sacked despite winning La Liga because he was deemed "too boring," but the uncomfortable reality for Madridistas is that, while Schuster has more attacking instincts, for the most part very little has changed. Whenever the German is reminded of that fact, he has appeared ready to explode.
Schuster is clearly uncomfortable with the pressure at the Bernabéu, and right now it is hard to see him hanging on beyond the end of the season. In mitigation, he has had to deal with a string of significant injuries, to defender Pepe, midfielder Wesley Sneijder and van Nistelrooy. He has been able to field his first-choice defense only once -- at Camp Nou.
Since last summer, Madrid has spent more than $140 million on players, yet precious few of them have played a significant role. Christoph Metzelder, Pepe and Arjen Robben arrived already injured, and Gabriel Heinze has also spent a long time out. As for Javier Saviola, Real could not hide its glee after stealing him from Barcelona -- but he was stolen from Barça's bench.
In two years, Madrid has spent $300 million, plus the $14 million it cost to pay off Capello. Neither Kaká nor Cesc Fàbregas arrived as promised by Calderón, and of those that did turn up, only van Nistelrooy has been an unqualified success -- and he's 31.
Suddenly, fingers are pointing the president's way. And when presidents get singled out, they get nervous and heads tend to roll and even more outrageous promises are trotted out. Expect the "Kaká/Fàbregas/Gerrard to Madrid" headlines to rear their ugly heads once again
On the day Madrid president Ramón Calderón proudly unveiled the MD-83 embossed with club logos, he boasted that it would fly to Moscow for the Champions League final at the Luzhniki stadium on May 21. But a defeat to AS Roma in the last 16 put an end to that.
This has not been a good Champions League for the Spanish, with only Barcelona making it past the round of 16. Valencia crashed out in the group stage, not even collecting the consolation prize of a UEFA Cup place in the midst of its worst run in 20 years, and Sevilla went down 3-2 on penalties to Fenerbahçe in the first knockout round after a 5-5 aggregate draw.
The following day, Madrid was knocked out, too, its dreams of a 10th European Cup going up in smoke after losing 2-1 at home to Roma -- it had lost by the same score in the first leg.
Real is the Spanish champion and current league leader, but El Mundo's headline summed up the general feeling about the club: "Too mediocre for Europe." Four successive exits at the same stage tell their own story.
"That's not a slip-up, it's a failure," wrote columnist Juanma Trueba in Madrid daily AS. "We have been satisfied with our domestic experience but the rest of Europe, England in particular, travels at a different speed."
AS' match report ran: "When you lose and you deserve it, you don't feel pain, you feel something even worse: resignation."
Roma was a worthy winner, cruelly exposing Madrid's weaknesses without the injured Ruud van Nistelrooy, who almost single-handedly kept the team in the domestic title race last term, and Sergio Ramos, who disguises the imbalance in a team that plays without a right-sided midfielder.
If coach Bernd Schuster was aware of the team's weaknesses, he wasn't letting on before the game. When asked if the side had practiced penalties, he snapped: "What's the matter with you? Doesn't anyone round here think we're going to win?" And after the match, he insisted: "This wasn't a defeat."
If he really believes that, El Pais' Diego Torres pointed out, "He has problems; he is suffering from some sort of denial syndrome. In his mind, Madrid is a victorious, gilded team where the defeats don't happen."
But of course they do -- and there have been a lot of late. All the euphoria looks rather foolish now, the boasts rather vacuous. Calderón's claim that Madrid is a "footballing machine" reckoned without a breakdown, the wheels grinding to a halt, the engine spluttering. There is no potential treble to talk about: Real must now concentrate solely on the Spanish league.
It had all looked so rosy just before Christmas, when Madrid's 1-0 league win at Barcelona put it seven points ahead of their rivals. Since the New Year, however, los Merengues have lost nine games: five in the league -- at Almería, Betis and Deportivo La Coruña and home to Getafe and Valencia -- the two Roma ties and home and away to Mallorca in the Copa del Rey.
True, they still led Barça by nine points in mid-April, but Schuster doesn't have a great run-in record. Xerez and Levante both suffered dramatic collapses during the second half of the season under the German. Furthermore, he has shown an odd reluctance to change his underperforming team around, and then there is the presence of physical trainer Walter Di Salvo, the man who was in charge when Real imploded and lost five successive games and the league title at the end of the 2003-04 season.
Schuster's continued prickliness and arrogance have not won over many people, and every defeat is blamed on the referee. Madrid's genuinely impressive performances this season can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Fabio Capello was sacked despite winning La Liga because he was deemed "too boring," but the uncomfortable reality for Madridistas is that, while Schuster has more attacking instincts, for the most part very little has changed. Whenever the German is reminded of that fact, he has appeared ready to explode.
Schuster is clearly uncomfortable with the pressure at the Bernabéu, and right now it is hard to see him hanging on beyond the end of the season. In mitigation, he has had to deal with a string of significant injuries, to defender Pepe, midfielder Wesley Sneijder and van Nistelrooy. He has been able to field his first-choice defense only once -- at Camp Nou.
Since last summer, Madrid has spent more than $140 million on players, yet precious few of them have played a significant role. Christoph Metzelder, Pepe and Arjen Robben arrived already injured, and Gabriel Heinze has also spent a long time out. As for Javier Saviola, Real could not hide its glee after stealing him from Barcelona -- but he was stolen from Barça's bench.
In two years, Madrid has spent $300 million, plus the $14 million it cost to pay off Capello. Neither Kaká nor Cesc Fàbregas arrived as promised by Calderón, and of those that did turn up, only van Nistelrooy has been an unqualified success -- and he's 31.
Suddenly, fingers are pointing the president's way. And when presidents get singled out, they get nervous and heads tend to roll and even more outrageous promises are trotted out. Expect the "Kaká/Fàbregas/Gerrard to Madrid" headlines to rear their ugly heads once again
Comment