- History of Real Madrid C.F.
This articles details the History of
Real Madrid football club.Early years
, due to the stagnation of the ongoing civil war, all activity disappeared and the club virtually ceased to exist.
antiago Bernabéu Yeste
Before becoming President in 1945,
Santiago Bernabéu Yeste had already carried out the functions of player, first-team captain, club maintenance, first-team manager and director, in an association with the club that lasted nearly 70 years. He was responsible for rebuilding the club after theSpanish Civil War , and under his presidency, theSantiago Bernabéu Stadium and theCiudad Deportiva . Real Madrid has a newly named stadium which is the 'Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium'. He also reorganized the club at all levels, in what would become the normal operating hierarchy of professional clubs in the future, giving every section and level of the club independent technical teams and recruiting staff such asRaimundo Saporta .Finally, beginning in 1953 he embarked upon a strategy of signing world-class players from abroad, the most prominent of them being the signing of
Alfredo Di Stéfano and built the world's first truly multinational side. During Bernabéu's presidency many of Real Madrid's most legendary names played for the club, including the aforementioned Alfredo Di Stéfano,Ferenc Puskás ,Francisco Gento ,Héctor Rial ,Raymond Kopa ,José Santamaría ,Miguel Muñoz ,Amancio , Santillana, Juanito,José Antonio Camacho and others. In 1955, acting upon the idea proposed by the journalist Gabriel Hanot and building upon the Copa Latina (a tournament involving clubs from France, Spain, Portugal and Italy), Bernabéu met in the Ambassador Hotel inParis with Bedrignan andGustav Sebes and created what today is known as theUEFA Champions League . Under the administration ofUEFA , it is the world's premier club tournament.It was under Bernabéu's guidance, that Real Madrid became established as a major force in both Spanish and European football. Before passing away in 1978, Bernabéu had been the club's president for 33 years, during which he won 1 Intercontinental Cup, 6 European Cups, 16
La Liga titles, and 6 Spanish Cups.Domestic success
The signings in the early 1950s formed the nucleus of the Real Madrid team, which would dominate the latter half of the decade and beyond. They won
La Liga for first time in over 20 years as "Real Madrid" in 1954 and retained it in 1955. They were winners again in 1957 and 1958, with onlyAthletic Bilbao interrupting their sequence. CF Barcelona wonLa Liga in 1959 and 1960 but between 1961 and 1980 Real Madrid dominatedLa Liga with the club winning the competition 14 times. This included a five-in-a-row sequence (1961-1965) and two three-in-a-row sequences (1967-69 and 1978-1980). It was during this era that legendary players such asJose Antonio Camacho ,Uli Stielike , Santillana and Juanito came into the side.In the early 1980s Real Madrid lost its grip on
La Liga but by 1986 they had resumed normal service with another five-in-a-row sequence (1986-90). This team includedHugo Sánchez and the famous 'Quinta del Buitre' -Emilio Butragueño , Manolo Sanchís, Martín Vazquéz, Míchel and Miguel Pardeza.Real Madrid has also won the
Copa del Rey on 17 occasions, and are 8-time winners of theSupercopa de España .International success
In addition to their domestic success, Real Madrid's reputation as a major club was established by their outstanding record in the European Cup. To date they have been crowned champions of Europe a record nine times.
Alfredo Di Stéfano ,Ferenc Puskás and other famous players helped the club win the European Cup five times in a row between 1956 and 1960, which included the memorable 7-3 Hampden Park final againstEintracht Frankfurt in 1960. The club won for a sixth time in 1966 with the team known as the Ye-Ye , defeating Partizan Belgrade 2-1 in the final with a team composed entirely of nationally-born players, a first in the competition. They were also runners-up in 1962, 1964 and 1981. Winning the competition five consecutive times saw Real permanently awarded the original cup and earning the right to wear the UEFA badge of honour. They have also won theUEFA Cup twice and were twice runners-up in the European Cup Winners Cup.In 1996 President
Lorenzo Sanz appointedFabio Capello as coach. Although his tenure lasted only one season, Real Madrid were proclaimed league champions and several important players arrived at the club (Roberto Carlos,Predrag Mijatović ,Davor Šuker andClarence Seedorf ) to strengthen a squad that already boasted the likes of Raúl,Fernando Hierro andFernando Redondo . As a result, Real Madrid (with the addition ofFernando Morientes in 1997) finally ended its 32-year wait for the seventh European Cup in 1998 under managerJupp Heynckes , defeating Juventus 1-0 in the final, thanks to a goal fromPredrag Mijatović . Real Madrid would go on to win again in 2000 and 2002 under managerVicente Del Bosque , with sides including players such asLuís Figo andZinedine Zidane .Real Madrid is also three-time winners of the Intercontinental Cup, defeating Peñarol, Vasco da Gama, and
Olimpia Asunción in 1960, 1998, and 2002 respectively."Quinta del Buitre" years
.
Sanchís and Martín Vázquez were the first to play for the first team of Real Madrid, making their debut at Murcia on
December 4 1983 . CoachAlfredo Di Stéfano brought the youngsters in from the start. Both played surprisingly well and Sanchís even scored the winning goal. A few months later,February 5 1984 , saw the debut of Emilio Butragueño in an away game at Cádiz. "El Buitre" was an instant sensation and scored twice. Pardeza was added to the first team that same season and Míchel followed at the start of the next.With La Quinta del Buitre (reduced to four members when Pardeza left the club for Zaragoza in 1986) Real Madrid had one of the best teams in Spain and Europe during the second half of the 1980s, winning amongst others two
UEFA Cup s and 5 Spanish championships in a row. Their record was only blemished by their failure to win the European Cup, and their continued abject defeats against the far superior AC Milan side of the time.Martín Vázquez went to play for Torino in 1990. He made a return to Real Madrid in 1992, leaving the club again for good in 1995 (to
Deportivo La Coruña ). Butragueño left the club in 1995 and Michél in 1996. Both went to play forAtlético Celaya inMexico .Sanchís was the only member of La Quinta to never play for a club other than Real Madrid. By winning the Champions League twice (in 1998 and 2000), he also managed to accomplish what La Quinta had failed to achieve in its glory days. He retired in 2001 as last active member of the famous cohort at the age of 37.
Florentino Pérez years
2000/01 campaign
In July 2000
Florentino Pérez was elected club president vowing to erase the club's debt and modernise the club's facilities, however the primary electoral promise that propelled Pérez to victory was the signing of then-FC Barcelona starLuís Figo . During the campaign, Pérez claimed he had an agreement with the Portuguese winger that would see Figo move to the Bernabeu should Pérez be elected. On July 16, Pérez won the election. Eight days later, Luís Figo was presented with the number 10 shirt of Real Madrid.Days later, surrounded by controversy, Real Madrid idol
Fernando Redondo , who had openly supported Pérez's opponent Lorenzo Sanz, was sold to Italian giants AC Milan. During the summer of 2000, Real Madrid signedClaude Makélélé ,Albert Celades ,Flávio Conceição ,César Sánchez ,Pedro Munitis , andSantiago Solari although aside from Makélélé and Conceição the rest had been signed prior to the election of Florentino Pérez. Expectations were high as Real Madrid began the 2000-01 season with the possibility of winning 5 trophies but stumbled at the first test losing the European Super Cup by a score of 1-2 to Galatasaray. An injury toFernando Morientes left Real Madrid without a centre forward, but manager Vicente Del Bosque improvised by using youth team graduate Guti, in that role and Real Madrid made a good start to both domestic and European campaigns. But Real Madrid were defeated 2-0 at the Camp Nou against Barcelona and were later eliminated from theCopa del Rey by Toledo as well as losing the Intercontinental Cup final to a Boca Juniors side led byMartin Palermo andRiquelme . But Real Madrid recovered form and went top of the Spanish first division in mid-January, a position they would not relinquish on their way to winning the title. Real Madrid advanced from the second group stage of the Champions League to face Galatasaray in the quarterfinals. Real Madrid lost the first leg in Istanbul 3-2 but recovered to win the tie after a 3-0 victory in the Bernabeu. This would produce a replay of the 1999-2000 Champions League semifinal against Bayern Munich. Real Madrid would not reach the final however, losing 1-3 on aggregate to the eventual champions. Real Madrid would not be denied the league title however, and on 26 May, the merengues would crown themselves champions of the Spanish first division with an emphatic 5-0 win over Alaves at the Bernabeu. Goals by Raúl (2), Guti, Hierro, and Iván Helguera would ensure victory and Real Madrid's 28th league title with two matches left to play.After reaching an agreement to re-zone and sell the Ciudad Deportiva, Pérez went on to sign Zinédine Zidane (2001),
Ronaldo (2002) andDavid Beckham (2003). The media began referring to the team as Los Galácticos. Initially the strategy, eventually dubbed Zidanes y Pavones and meant to combine world stars and youth team graduates, was successful and Real Madrid won La Liga in 2001 and 2003 and the UEFA Champions League in 2002, their centenary year. They also won the Intercontinental Cup, the European Super Cup [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/2223291.stm Real win Super Cup] BBC Sport] and the Supercopa de España in both 2001 and 2003.Off the field the Zidanes y Pavones policy resulted in increased financial success based on the exploitation of the club's high marketing potential around the world, especially in Asia [6] [7]
In the summer of 2003, just after capturing another La Liga title, Florentino Pérez and the board of directors refused to renew the contract of coach
Vicente Del Bosque and after an internal dispute forced captainFernando Hierro to leave the club. They also ignored Claude Makélélé's request of a new contract with a better salary, in return, Makélélé asked for a transfer request, and was transferred to Chelsea.2003/2004 campaign: wind of change
The few days after the capturing of the league title were surrounded with controversy. The first controversial decision came when Perez sacked winning coach Vicente del Bosque, after Real's sporting director claimed that del Bosque was not the right man for the job; they wanted someone young to shake up the team. The bad atmosphere continued when the Real legend and captain Fernando Hierro left the club after a disagreement with the management, as did
Steve McManaman . However, the club toured Asia in preseason and introduced newly signed galacticoDavid Beckham . Perez and his directors refused to renewClaude Makélélé 's contract with a better salary, upsetting Makelele who asked for a transfer, eventually moving to Chelsea FC. In the final days of the transfer window, Fernando Morientes left the club on loan to Monaco. Real Madrid, with newly appointed coach Carlos Queiroz, started their domestic league slowly after a hard win over Real Betis.But everyone was convinced when Madrid won 7-2 at home over
Real Valladolid . The second part of the season gave chances to youngsters and academy graduates likeBorja Fernandez ,Alvaro Mejia ,Antonio Nunez , and Juanfran to shine, as Queiroz rotated his squad, although the team missed Portillo whose previous poor performances inspired the club to loan him in the winter to the Italian sideACF Fiorentina . Real Madrid also topped their group in the Champions League and advanced to the quarter-finals after defeatingBayern Munich in the Last-16 2-1 on aggregate. But Madrid's on-loan striker Morientes punished his team with his goals, as Madrid saw Monaco go on to the semis. However Real kept their morale high after leading La Liga, 8 points clear of Valencia CF in February. But some surprises were waiting them, as they were beaten for the first time at the Bernabeu that season at the hands of CA Osasuna 3-0. They recovered their points lead after a win at the Vicente Calderón Stadium, but more disappointments were to come as they lost their final 5 games in the league at home toRCD Mallorca , Arch rivalsFC Barcelona ,Real Sociedad , and away toReal Murcia andDeportivo de La Coruña . They saw teams like Valencia, Barcelona, and Deportivo pass them to make up the top three, as Real ended the season in a disappointing 4th place. Their poor performances continued as they lost the final of the Copa Del Rey to Real Zaragoza. Shortly after the end of the season, Carlos Queiroz was sacked and replaced by ex-Real Madrid player,José Antonio Camacho .2004/05 campaign
Perez appointed club legend Jose Antonio Camacho as head coach after Queiroz was sacked. Camacho highlighted the team's bad defensive performances and persuaded Perez to spend a total of €45 millions on Argentine defender Walter Samuel and English centre back
Jonathan Woodgate but missed out on signing Arsenal's midfield general,Patrick Vieira due to Vieira's boldness of asking for a 'Galactico' paycheck (like Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo and David Beckham but unlike Claude Makélélé, who left for exactly that reason - €6 million Euros per year). The summer of 2004 also saw the sale of Cameroon StrikerSamuel Eto'o , who had been loaned out to Real Mallorca, to arch rivals F.C. Barcelona.English striker
Michael Owen was bought fromLiverpool F.C. but never settled at Real Madrid while Eto'o went on to great success with Barcelona. Camacho resigned as head coach because of the bad performances and was replaced byMariano García Remón . García Remón's last game was a loss at the hand ofSevilla FC , where the eventual champions F.C. Barcelona were 6 points clear from their nearest rivals, and Madrid sat in 5th position. Remón was replaced by Luxemburgo after the winter break, who then signedThomas Gravesen from Everton to fill the hole in midfield. Madrid failed to progress to the Quarter-finals of the Champions League as in the Copa Del Rey, but under Luxemburgo Madrid fought hard to earn second place with 80 points, 4 points behind Barcelona.End of an era: 2005/06 season
The 2005-06 season began with the promise of several new signings —
Julio Baptista (€20 Million),Robinho (€30 Million) andSergio Ramos (€30 Million - Release Clause) —, but the Brazilian coach was not able to find the right formula on the pitch as Real Madrid's poor form continued, with the team hitting rock bottom after a humiliating 0-3 loss at the hands of F.C. Barcelona in the Santiago Bernabeu. Luxemburgo would eventually resign and his replacement wasJuan Ramón López Caro , formally the manager ofReal Madrid Castilla . A brief return to form came to an abrupt halt after losing the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinal, 6-1 to Real Zaragoza. Shortly after, Real Madrid were eliminated from the Champions League for a fourth successive year, this time at the hands of Arsenal. OnFebruary 27 ,2006 , Florentino Pérez resigned. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/football/europe/4757112.stm Perez resigns as Madrid president] BBC Sport] Real Madrid eventually managed to finish second in the league but did not pose a serious threat to defending champions, F.C. Barcelona.Ramón Calderón period
(€18 m).
2006-07 season
On
January 16 ,2007 , Calderón made some very unfortunate comments about the behavior of some players in the squad and the Santiago Bernabéu fans, which has put the club in a delicate situation. [cite web|url=http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-spainrealcalderondc&prov=reuters&type=lgns|title=sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-spainrealcalderondc&prov=reuters&type=lgns |accessdate=2007-05-13] One of the players that Calderón criticised wasDavid Beckham , who, in January 2007, agreed to a deal to play for LA Galaxy at the end of that season. Among others to criticise Beckham was managerFabio Capello , who, at the time, vowed never to select Beckham for the team again, although he later withdrew his words. At the end of JanuaryRonaldo left the club for 7.5 million euros forAC Milan . OnFebruary 9 ,2007 , Capello allowed Beckham back onto Real's starting 11 in an away match againstReal Sociedad , Beckham played well and scored the equalizing goal in the match (Real Madrid won the match 2-1). OnFebruary 24 ,2007 , the Madrid derby betweenAtlético Madrid and Real Madrid at theVicente Calderón Stadium was a 1-1 draw. The scorers wereFernando Torres for Atlético, andGonzalo Higuain for Real. The Madrid derby is seen as one of the most fiercely contested matches in the Spanish football calendar.On
March 7 ,2007 Real Madrid failed to reach thequarter-finals of the Champions League due to Bayern Munich's strong home performance. Despite winning the home leg 3-2, they lost 2-1 in Germany and were eliminated on an away goals tiebreaker. Bayern scored the fastest goal in the Champions league during that match, after Roberto Carlos lost the ball after kick-off, which led toRoy Makaay scoring in 10 seconds.On
March 10 ,2007 Real Madrid contested the Clasico against Barcelona at theCamp Nou . Real Madrid took the lead 3 times after 2 goals fromRuud van Nistelrooy and one fromSergio Ramos but were pegged back by a hat-trick fromLionel Messi , including an injury-time equaliser. Despite the sending off of Oleguer, the Clasico ended 3-3.Real Madrid managed to find their form consistently for the first time all season as they managed to win seven out of eight of the final twelve games, including a 2-1 home win over Valencia on
April 21 ,2007 and another 3-2 home win over Sevilla onMay 6 ,2007 . Calderón then went on to say that if the team keep up their great play, he was confident Real Madrid will win the league title and end their four year wait for a major trophy onJune 17 .On
May 12 ,2007 , despite not havingRobinho and Beckham on the pitch (due to separate yellow cards given in the previous match against Sevilla) Real Madrid took over first place in theLa Liga for the first time all season by defeating Espanyol 4-3, coming back from 1-3 first half deficit. Los Blancos were able to avoid a 3-3 draw thanks to a 89th minute goal byGonzalo Higuaín .The Sunday after Real won their epic battle with Espanyol, Barça dropped points with a 1-1 draw to struggling Betis. By virtue of their superior head to head record, Real Madrid sat at the top of La Liga, with four crucial games left to play.
The following Sunday, Real managed to beat Recreativo 2-3 at the
Nuevo Colombino . With the score tied at 2-2, Real Madrid looked set return the lead back to rivals Barcelona until Roberto Carlos scored at the end of the match from aFernando Gago assist and the squad leftHuelva with just three games left to play. The remaining three were Deportivo, Zaragoza and Mallorca.On
May 26 ,2007 , Real Madrid did another excellent match to defeat Deportivo 3-1 at the Bernabéu. This victory made it six wins in a row for Real Madrid. Goals fromSergio Ramos , Raúl andRuud van Nistelrooy secured the win. That victory left Real with only two games left to play and with hopes and morale reaching a high point in Real's dressing room, Capello and Calderón began to believe that Real was going to win the league title.On
June 9 ,2007 , Real played against Zaragoza atLa Romareda . The match got off to a bad start when Real Madrid were forced to change their lineup some minutes before the start of the match when young defender Miguel Torres got injured in the warm up, tearing his hamstring. Zaragoza led Real 2-1 near the end of the match while Barcelona were also winning against Espanyol 2-1. Real's title challenge looked to be over. , which meant that a win at home against Mallorca would effectively secure Los Merengues their 30th Spanish league title.The title was won on
June 17 , Real faced Mallorca at the Bernabéu, while Barcelona and Sevilla, the other title challengers, facedGimnàstic de Tarragona and Villarreal respectively. At half time Real were 0-1 down, while Barcelona had surged ahead into a 0-3 lead in Tarragona; however, three goals in the last half-an-hour secured Real Madrid a 3-1 win and their first league title since 2003. The first goal came from Reyes who scored after a good work from Higuaín. An own goal followed by another delightful goal from Reyes allowed Real to begin celebrating the title. Thousands of Real Madrid fans began going toPlaza de Cibeles to celebrate the title.Real Madrid recently signed a three-year deal with betting company
Bwin.com in June, announcing a shirt deal at the same time that sawBenq Siemens replaced by Bwin.com on the front. The 2007-08 shirts made their first appearance during their title celebration onJune 17 ,2007 .2007-08 season
On
August 25 , Real Madrid kicked off the season in a derby against city rivalsAtlético Madrid at theSantiago Bernabéu . It was a highly entertaining display from both sides but Real managed to win 2-1, with goals from Raúl andWesley Sneijder for Real while Kun Agüero scored for Atletico. It was a great start for Real as they showed skill and that they were adapting to the new style of playBernd Schuster had brought in.On August 28th, Antonio Puerta, player of the Sevilla FC died in the hospital after three days in the hospital. The Santiago Bernabeu Trophy (where Real Madrid was about to play against Sporting Lisbon) was cancelled in honor of Antonio Puerta. On September 02, Real Madrid managed to win 5-0 against Villarreal in El Maadrigal, with 2 goals from Sneijder, 1 from Raul, 1 from van Nistelrooy and 1 from Guti. Real extended their winning streak to 3 after they beat Almeria at home before earning a well deserved 1-1 against Valladolid with Saviola scoring the equalizer three minutes from time. Four days later, Real remained unbeaten as they beat Betis 2-0 at the Bernabeu with goals from Raul and an amazing bicycle kick from Julio Baptista. Real continued their unbeaten run under Schuster by beating Getafe 1-0 away to ensure The Whites remain at the summit of the La Liga.Real Madrid has closed out its best fiscal year in history after recording €351 million in ordinary revenue -a 20% increase compared to last year- and €83 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization -a 43% increase compared to the 2005/06 fiscal year. [ [http://www.realmadrid.com/articulo/rma42359.htm Real Madrid closes out its best fiscal year in history (Realmadrid.com)] ]
Real started their European Campaign well, beating German side Werder Bremen 2-1 at home thanks to goals from Raul and Ruud Van Nistelrooy, however they lost in the first knockout round against Roma, with a score of 4-2.
References
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