Somewhere in his Birkenhead home the man plotting Liverpool Football Club's ascendency (a loan refinancing scheme pending) is grinning ear to ear upon news of Real Madrid prizing Cristiano Ronaldo away from Old Trafford. While I couldn't resist taking a dig at Manchester United for losing its most valued asset, it is the fury with which Real Madrid is looking to close the gap between itself and Barcelona that has tongues wagging from BMO Field to the Bernabeau.
Last season Madrid finished 9 points behind Barcelona and was outscored 105 to 83 in the league by its chief Spanish football rival. Their league challenge came to a humiliating end on May 2nd when the Madridistas were butchered 6-2 in front of 80,000 people at home to Barca as they put on a spectacular display of style and elegance.
In the Champions League, Madrid suffered an equally devastating demise to their 2009 trophy ambitions. A 4-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield on March 10th ruined any hope of collecting its prized and seemingly elusive tenth UEFA Champions League crown.
Disgraced and trophy-less for 2009, Madrid is not a club famous for its patience even if the pain was for just one season. There is no "building process" when it comes to the biggest sports club in the world. They won back-to-back Spanish league titles in 2007 and 2008 but refused to extend the contracts of both title winning managers Fabio Capello and Bernd Schuster for various strange reasons. Nothing is ever good enough and the failure to collect the Champions League medal along with the league was the undoing for two of the best managers in the world of football.
Fast forward to June 1: Florentino Perez, the man who instituted Real Madrid's "Galacticos" policy by purchasing Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, (Brazilian) Ronaldo and David Beckham between 2000-2006 as President, was reinstalled to his favoured post to ensure that Madrid would not suffer such indignation anytime in the near future.
What a difference 10 days make.
In his first act of business Perez installed Chilean legend Manuel Pellegrini as manager, wresting him away from Villarreal for about $8 million (Cdn). Over five years Pellegrini turned a modest Villarreal into a Spanish powerhouse with repeated Champions League berths and going deep into the knockout stages of that competition and the UEFA Cup. Many of Pellegrini's players featured in the Spain Euro 2008 Championship side and their quality was evident.
After the Pellegrini deal was completed, Perez went for the jugular. His swoop for 2007 World Player of the Year Kaká for $102 million (Cdn) would have been enough for any club. But two days later Perez also went for and succeeded where his predecessor Ramón Calderón failed a year ago, by agreeing a fee to buy the reigning World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo for $145 million (Cdn).
In a matter of 2-3 days Perez has spent the equivalent of 6 Major League Soccer expansion fees on just 2 players. Galacticos have reloaded and the European transfer window doesn't officially open for another 20 days.
Toronto FC hosts Real Madrid at BMO Field in a friendly match on Friday August 7.
