Galácticos

Galácticos (Spanish for galactics or superstars) are expensive, world-famous Real Madrid football players recruited during the "galácticos" policy pursued during Florentino Pérez's presidency at Real Madrid, where in his first tenure he purchased at least one galáctico in the summer of every year. Galácticos is now often used in a more general sense for a select list of football superstars in any team.[1]

The term itself carries both positive and negative meanings. Initially, it was used to emphasise the greatness of signing superstar players and the construction of a world class team. Later the term attracted a more negative connotation; galáctico becoming synonymous with prima donna and used to deride the transfer policy and side (or team) built under it, following media perception that the policy at Real had failed to deliver expected levels of success.

The term has occasionally been used to describe other teams, both in football and in other sports, that have been perceived to follow a similar policy. For example, British rugby union commentator Martin Gillingham called French club Toulon "rugby's galácticos" in 2012 due to a wave of signings of international stars by owner Mourad Boudjellal.[2]

Origins

Although the term was widely used in the 2000s, the origins of the Galáctico policy date as far back as the 1950s when the architect of the policy, President Santiago Bernabéu Yeste after whom the club stadium is named, signed star players the likes of Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás, Raymond Kopa, Jose Santamaria and Francisco Gento in succession, to achieve Real Madrid's finest era of dominance.

In the culture of Real Madrid, the Galácticos period is often contrasted with the Quinta del Buitre era of the late 1980s. The Quinta del Buitre played a more physical and less appealing style of football and were made up of homegrown players, unlike the foreign stars who became the Galácticos.

First galáctico era

The first galáctico era is considered to be synonymous with the presidency of Florentino Perez between 2000–2007, or from Real Madrid's signing of Luís Figo during summer 2000 to the departure of David Beckham during summer 2007. The Florentino Pérez era brought:

The galácticos

The principal galácticos were:

In addition, English striker Michael Owen is often considered to be galáctico, Florentino Perez had stated his desire to make Owen part of his galáctico project as early as March 2002.[3] Owen eventually joined the club for £8 million plus Antonio Núñez from Liverpool in August 2004 and he was given the number 11 shirt.[4] Owen's transfer fee was not as large as the other Galácticos, however this was attributable to Owen being in the last year of his contract at Liverpool[4] and Núñez being sent to Liverpool in part exchange. Although Owen would mostly feature as a substitute, he had the highest goals to minutes played ratio in the Spanish league during his time in Madrid.

Several other players were often considered to be a part of the galácticos legacy due to their influence on the team during that period despite either being signed previously to the reign of Pérez or being graduates of the Madrid youth system, these often included:

Robinho was also signed during Pérez's first term as president but is not generally regarded as galácticos due to the fact that he wasn't considered as an established world-class player when he first arrived in Madrid, but rather a promising youngster with huge potential.

Pérez becomes president

Beckham and Zidane were considered "Galácticos".

Though Real Madrid had already won two European Cups (1998, 2000) under the presidency of Lorenzo Sanz; Sanz lost his re-election bid to Pérez. Pérez had won, partly by promising expensive new signings and an aggressive new transfer policy, in particular to sign Luís Figo from rivals FC Barcelona.

Pérez sold Real's then training ground Ciudad Deportiva for €480 million; this allowed Real to clear their debts, build a replacement training complex (at a fraction of the cost) and have significant funds for investment in the playing side. The deal was later investigated by the EU on competition grounds on the prompting of several unnamed clubs but no charges were brought.

After the purchase of Figo, for a world record transfer fee, Pérez sought to buy at least one world-class superstar player (a galáctico) each summer during the transfer season. It was broken a year later by the purchase of Zidane from Juventus. The galáctico policy was initially called Zidanes y Pavones. The name came from Zidane and Francisco Pavón, a youth product from Real Madrid — the idea was to sign one major superstar per year and promoted youth players from within.

Initial success

Immediate success followed, with Real winning La Liga in 2000–01 and 2002–03 and claiming the UEFA Champions League in 2001–02, with Zidane scoring the winning goal in the final. After winning the 2002–03 La Liga title, Real Madrid added another galáctico - David Beckham from Manchester United.

The galácticos' policy resulted in increased financial success based on the exploitation of the club's high marketing potential around the world, especially in Asia. Its economic model led it to finally overtake perennial leader Manchester United as the world's richest club by revenue in 2005–06. Real Madrid became the biggest club in the world due to the fame of its galácticos and the resources they generated.

Real were expected to continue their level of dominance in the domestic and European game after 2002-03, with the signing of Beckham expected to strengthen the team. However, following seasons would see limited success on the pitch, with Real failing to win any trophy for next three seasons after their 2003 league title. In the UEFA Champions League, Real was eliminated in the 2004 quarter-finals and then from 2005–2010 would suffer six consecutive exits at the Round of 16 stage. In the same period, rivals FC Barcelona won successive La Liga titles in 2005 and 2006, along with the 2006 UEFA Champions League.

Perceived failure

Several reasons have been proposed in the media for the failure of the galáctico policy:

End of the first era

The decline in the team's on-field performance had seemingly hit a nadir in the 2005–06 season, exiting in the UEFA Champions League to Arsenal in the Round of 16 without scoring a goal in either leg. Pérez resigned as club president on 27 February 2006 after Real Madrid lost to Mallorca, and was succeeded by Ramon Calderon.

The final season of the galáctico era is considered to be the 2006–07 season. Fabio Cannavaro and Ruud van Nistelrooy were brought in. Unlike the earlier transfers of galácticos, there was less media attention or marketing involved in the signing of these players; Cannavaro had been fresh off of captaining Italy to the 2006 FIFA World Cup but had left Juventus after it was relegated to Serie B, while van Nistelrooy had fallen out of favour at Manchester United.

Fabio Capello was hired as manager by President Calderon with a mandate of "reining in the players and clearing out dead wood". Capello balanced the team out and moved away from the previous attacking approach used by previous managers. Capello dropped several of the (previously perennially selected) galácticos — notably David Beckham — for periods of the season. However Beckham was returned to the team during the second half of the season and considered by many to be one of their better performers at the time, after he signed with Los Angeles Galaxy for the upcoming season as well as regaining his place on the national team.[6] The team's performance in the Champions League still disappointed with their elimination to Bayern Munich on away goals, the team initially enjoyed a 3-2 first leg win at home, but the second leg away was a 2-1 loss with Roberto Carlos failing the control the ball on kickoff which led to Roy Makaay scoring at 10.12 seconds, the fastest Champions League goal in history. In the domestic campaign, the team finally overtook Barça, who had been first place for much of the La Liga season, on 12 May 2007, and held there for the rest of the season; they tied Barça in points but won La Liga due to the tiebreaker on head-to-head superiority. Despite winning La Liga, Capello was sacked at the conclusion of the season.

The final end of the first galáctico era is considered the departure of Beckham to join Major League Soccer side the Los Angeles Galaxy after the 2006–07 season. Beckham's contract was due to expire after that season, however club president Calderon favored re-signing him. Beckham's decision to sign with LA Galaxy in January 2007 was as a result his treatment and benching by Capello, who responded publicly saying that Beckham would get no further chances on the first team, though Capello was forced to backtrack on that declaration.[7] Beckham was the last of the big four to move on, with Figo having joined Inter Milan two seasons prior, Zidane retiring after the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and Ronaldo moving to AC Milan half a season before Beckham's departure. Capello was replaced as manager by Bernd Schuster, who led the team to the Supercopa de España and a second consecutive La Liga title in 2007-08.

Second galáctico era

2008-09 season

The 2008–09 season saw Real Madrid eclipsed by rivals FC Barcelona, who completed The Treble including beating Real to win La Liga by a wide margin of nine points. Real were humbled in the Champions League 1st knockout round by Liverpool, suffering a 1–0 loss at the Bernabéu and a heavy 4–0 at Anfield. The defeat marked the fifth successive season of early Champions League exits at the round of sixteen, with Real not making the quarter-finals since 2004. To make things worse, they lost both their El Clásico games, and crashed out of the Copa del Rey to third-level Real Unión. The team was widely derided in the press. Manager Bernd Schuster was sacked midway through the 2008–09 season, with the team perceptibly in decline, despite the efforts of Juande Ramos, who kept the team with 19 successive victories, shortening the deficit to only six points (initially, Barcelona led by 12). It was all brought to an end when a rampant Barcelona later defeated an exposed Real Madrid 2–6 with Lionel Messi, Xavi and Thierry Henry being the stars.

In addition, Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón resigned in January 2009 after corruption allegations, and having failed to secure notable transfer targets for the club.

2009-10 season

The resignation of Calderón resulted in a presidential election in mid-2009, returning Florentino Pérez to the presidency. Pérez again pledged to go on a spending spree to return the club to European and domestic competitiveness, notably with his vocal claims of an attempt to sign A.C. Milan's Kaká. Just 24 hours after his appointment, Manuel Pellegrini was unveiled as Juande Ramos' replacement as manager. After much speculation linking him to the club, Kaká was duly signed for a then world record fee of £57 million on 9 June 2009. On 11 June, Manchester United revealed they had accepted a shock offer of £80 million (a new world transfer record fee) for Cristiano Ronaldo. United gave Real until 30 June to complete the deal. On 26 June, Real Madrid and Manchester United signed the final agreement for the transfer of Ronaldo, which became effective on 1 July. That same day, it was confirmed that Olympique Lyonnais had accepted an offer from Madrid for Karim Benzema. On 29 July 2009, it was announced that Real and Liverpool had reached an agreement for the transfer of Álvaro Arbeloa to the Spanish club for a fee of €4 million, the same amount Liverpool paid for the player in January 2007, Arbeloa then signed a five-year contract with Real. On 4 August, Real Madrid and Liverpool again agreed terms for the transfer of Xabi Alonso to the Santiago Bernabéu for a fee of €34 million being paid by Real. Other players that came to Real Madrid were Raul Albiol, Ezequiel Garay, Esteban Granero. Antonio Adan became the third goalkeeper through the youth system. Newly hired manager Manuel Pellegrini was under heavy pressure to deliver instant success, due to the signing of Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso.[8]

Kaká (left) and Cristiano Ronaldo (right) are two galácticos.

In their first year the second era of galácticos failed to win any trophies. They were crushed 4-0 against Alcorcón in the Copa del Rey (ultimately losing 4–1 on aggregate). Then they were knocked out of the Champions League in the Round of 16 for the sixth consecutive year (losing to Lyon 2-1 on aggregate), after which Pellegrini received an ultimatum from club president Perez that Real would have to win La Liga or he would be sacked. Ending up, Real set a club record of 96 points, with 31 wins and 102 goals scored, but finished second in La Liga to defending league champions Barcelona.[9]

Once again, Real Madrid suffered from poor transfer decisions as Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben, who were transferred to Inter Milan and Bayern Munich respectively because they were considered surplus to requirements, each played key roles as their clubs reached the UEFA Champions League Final at the Santiago Bernabéu.

2010-11 season

Manuel Pellegrini was sacked and José Mourinho was appointed manager. Even before the 2009-10 season had concluded, the team was actively courting Mourinho, who had successfully managed Inter Milan to a semi-final victory over Barça in the Champions League (Los Blancos fans were pleased that this denied Barça the opportunity to win the Champions League at the Bernabéu[10]) en route to achieving a continental treble. Mourinho was released by Inter after a record breaking compensation package was agreed on 27 May 2010.

Though a manager and not a player, Mourinho has often been referred to as a galáctico. he was in high demand as a football manager for his past successes; he led an unfancied Porto squad to consecutive European trophies, then at Chelsea and Inter he took underachieving squads to domestic and European successes. While Real Madrid wanted to make his arrival a media frenzy, Mourinho vetoed the club’s plans which supposedly would have involved a giant catwalk or parading a massive white shirt across the pitch. Club president Florentino Pérez was absent during the simple media presentation announcing Mourinho's appointment, only director general Jorge Valdano, the media and Mourinho were – a managerial presentation like any other. This suggested a power shift, with Real Madrid "having at long last allowed a coach [Mourinho] the freedom to build the squad".[11][12]

Real Madrid continued the spending spree by signing players Ángel Di María, Sergio Canales, Pedro León, Ricardo Carvalho, Sami Khedira, and Mesut Özil. Khedira and Özil had played key roles in Germany's third-place finish at the FIFA World Cup. On 20 April 2011, the second galácticos era managed to win their first trophy, a 1-0 victory over Barcelona in the final of the Copa del Rey, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the decisive goal in extra time. They also managed to get past the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in seven years, reaching the semi-finals where they lost to eventual champions Barça. In La Liga they finished as runners-up to Barça, being defeated 0-5 in the 13th round, and drawing 1-1 in the 32nd round, thus achieving their first point in the last six matches against the Azulgranas.

May 2011 saw the appointment of former galáctico Zinedine Zidane as General Manager of the club, replacing Jorge Valdano.

2011-12 season

In the 2011–2012 season, Real Madrid won its 32nd title under the management of José Mourinho with a record-breaking goal scoring figure, a record goal difference and most away wins among several other records in a single season in La Liga history. The key moment was the 2-1 win over Barça at Nou Camp on 21 April, Barça's first home loss of the season, which extended Real Madrid's lead in the table to seven points with four matches left, and led to Barça coach Pep Guardiola conceding the league title. In the Champions League, the team reached the semi-finals where they faced Bayern Munich (managed by Jupp Heynckes, who had previously led Real Madrid to its 1998 Champions League title), losing the first leg 2-1 and winning the second leg at home 2-1 (with former Real Madrid player Arjen Robben converting a penalty to level the aggregate score). Bayern won 3-1 in the ensuring penalty shootout which saw spot kicks of galácticos Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká saved by Bayern's Manuel Neuer as well as a missed penalty by Sergio Ramos.[13]

2012-13 season

In the 2012-13 La Liga season, Real Madrid failed to defend their La Liga title and finished second, as Barça matched Real's record points haul to win the league. The 2012-13 season saw Real get off to a good start winning the Supercopa de Espana, defeating Barcelona 4-4 in the aggregate, though this would turn out to be their only trophy that season. Real beat Barcelona in five of six meetings including the trashing of Barcelona 3-1 at Camp Nou. Another victory over Barcelona came on La Liga round 26, where Real beat their rival 2-1 by using substitute players (such as Morata, Callejon, Essien), while Barcelona's squad consisted of their first team starters.

Mourinho's last year, however, saw infighting between him and several galácticos like Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Pepe, and Cristiano Ronaldo. Mourinho's selection policy generated controversy; longtime Real Madrid player and club captain Casillas had been sidelined since January 2013 despite recovering from a broken hand, in favor of Diego López Rodríguez who had been in fine form in the domestic and European campaign during Casillas' absence.[14]

In the Champions League, Real Madrid defeated Manchester United, drawing the first leg at the Bernabeu 1-1, and then a come-from-behind 2-1 win at Old Trafford (which was marred by controversy over a red card being issued to Manchester United player Nani), with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring in both legs. The team reached their third straight Champions League semi-finals, however Borussia Dortmund thrashed Real in the first leg 4-1 with Robert Lewandowski scoring four goals, leading Dortmund manager Jürgen Klopp to remark that it was a historic night for his club saying "That was like Robin Hood taking from the rich" (Dortmund had previously went with an expensive group of largely foreign players but after almost going bankrupt, had restructured back to financial health largely with young home-grown players).[15] Real's 2-0 win in the second leg at home was not being sufficient to overturn Dortmund's 4-3 aggregate advantage.

Real advanced to the Copa del Rey final against city rival Atletico Madrid; Real was denied by a superb performance by Thibaut Courtois and Atletico scored in extra time to win 2-1. Jose Mourinho, despite having signed a four-year contract extension in 2012, departed Real Madrid by mutual agreement with the club at the conclusion of the 2012-13 season, amid feuds with key players Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Pepe.

2013-14 season

On 25 June 2013, Carlo Ancelotti became the manager of Real Madrid, succeeding Mourinho, by signing a three-year deal.[16][17] A day later, he was introduced at his first press conference for Madrid where it was announced that both Zinedine Zidane and Paul Clement will be his assistants.[18] On 1 September 2013, the long-awaited transfer of Gareth Bale was announced, with Bale joining Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo in the Madrid attack. The transfer of the Welshman is reportedly a new world record, with the transfer price around €100 million.[19] In Ancelotti's first season at the club, Real Madrid won the Copa del Rey, with Bale scoring the winner in the final against Barcelona.[20] On 24 May 2014, Real Madrid defeated city rivals Atlético Madrid in the Champions League Final winning their first European title since 2002,[21] and they became the first team to win ten European Cups, an achievement known as "La Décima".[22] Real Madrid's attacking trio of Bale, Benzema and Cristiano, dubbed the BBC, finished the season with 97 goals.[23]

2014-15 season

On 12 August 2014, Real Madrid won the UEFA Super Cup against the 2013-14 UEFA Europa League champions Sevilla by a score of 2-0. Ronaldo scored both of Madrid's goals to win the club's 78th official trophy. In the 2014 Supercopa de España against Atlético Madrid, Real finished their home leg with 1–1 after goals from James Rodríguez and Raúl García going into the Estadio Vicente Calderón.[24] Mario Mandžukić shocked Real early on after just two minutes in the second leg with the only goal of the match, which meant that Atlético won the title.[25][26] In the last match of the season Martin Ødegaard became Real Madrid's youngest ever player to play in la liga

The second galácticos

Several other players are considered to be a part of the galácticos legacy due to their influence on the team during that period despite either being signed previously to the reign of Pérez or being graduates of the Madrid youth system, these often included:

Raphaël Varane was also signed during Pérez's second term as president but is not generally regarded as galácticos due to the fact that he wasn't considered as an established world-class player when he first arrived in Madrid, but rather a promising youngster with huge potential.

References

  1. ↑ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 2007. ISBN 0199206872.
  2. ↑ Gillingham, Martin (2012-03-27). "Top 14: Toulon are the Galácticos of the rugby world". The Independent (London). Retrieved 2012-06-06.
  3. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/1865064.stm
  4. 1 2 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/3560542.stm
  5. ↑ "Globetrotters Real back at base after Asian tour". CNN.
  6. ↑ Sinnott, John (10 June 2007). "LA deal revived Beckham - Antic". BBC News.
  7. ↑ "Real Madrid sack manager Capello". BBC News. 28 June 2007.
  8. ↑ "Pellegrini is under pressure". Bleacher Report.
  9. ↑ http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2016193-misery-in-madrid-means-manuel-pellegrini-is-under-the-most-title-race-pressure#articles/2016193-misery-in-madrid-means-manuel-pellegrini-is-under-the-most-title-race-pressure
  10. ↑ "Madrid revels in Barcelona's exit". CNN. 30 April 2010.
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ Lowe, Sid (1 June 2010). "Jose Mourinho begins Real Madrid revolution". The Daily Telegraph (London).
  13. ↑ Winter, Henry (26 April 2012). "Bayern Munich reach Champions League final after beating Real Madrid in dramatic penalty shoot-out". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 2012-05-19.
  14. ↑
  15. ↑ Lowe, Sid (25 April 2013). "Dortmund thrashing of Real like 'Robin Hood taking from the rich', says Klopp". The Guardian (London).
  16. ↑ "Carlo Ancelotti, new Real Madrid coach". Real Madrid C.F. 25 June 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  17. ↑ "Official: Real Madrid confirm Ancelotti signing". Real Madrid C.F. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  18. ↑ Sharma, Rik (26 June 2013). "Ancelotti presented as new Madrid boss with former Chelsea coach Clement and Zidane as his assistants". Daily Mail (London). Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  19. ↑ "Bale, Real Madrid's newest player". Real Madrid C.F. official site. 1 September 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  20. ↑ Lowe, Sid (16 April 2014). "Real Madrid's Gareth Bale gallops past Barcelona to land Copa del Rey". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  21. ↑ "Bayern Munich 0-4 Real Madrid". BBC Sport. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  22. ↑ "Real Madrid make history with La Decima". euronews.com. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  23. ↑ "200 goals for the BBC". RealMadrid.com. 24 October 2015.
  24. ↑ "1-1: The Supercup of Spain will be decided in the Calderón". realmadrid.com. 2014-08-19.
  25. ↑ "1-0: A lack of accuracy did for Real Madrid in the Supercopa de España". realmadrid.com. 2014-08-22.
  26. ↑ "Una pequeña revancha". marca.com. 2014-08-23.
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