The campaign in Spain may be far from over for spendthrifts Real Madrid, what with seven league matches remaining in the Primera Division, but there is already a familiar stench emanating from the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. And unsurprisingly, it is one that reeks of both disappointment and failure.
But for a club who lavishly doled out nearly a quarter billion Euros on restocking a squad who failed to impress last year both domestically and in Europe, perhaps a second consecutive season plagued by mediocrity should come as a bit of a shock, at least on paper. Especially when you consider the renowned cognomens of Kaká, Xabi Alonso, Karim Benzema, and maybe the world's most talented player Cristiano Ronaldo that current President Florentino Pérez managed to reel in last summer to complete the roster overhaul and usher in a new era of galácticos in the Spanish capital. Yet as we all know, games are never won on paper no matter how ripe the roster, and these merengues' demise likely was sealed at the weekend when visiting rivals Barcelona continued their impressive run of form, beating a shambolic and disheartened Real 2-0 in El Clásico.
The biannual clash between the world's most heated rivals had all the ingredients of a thriller. Equal on points at the top of the table in La Liga with 77 a piece, Real came into Saturday night's match overflowing with confidence, having won their last 12 league matches. There were the additional subplots of the world's two greatest footballers in Ronaldo and Barcelona's Lionel Messi going head-to-head just as they had at the Nou Camp back on November 29—a game in which the Catalan giants won 1-0 thanks to a magnificent finish by Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic—as well as the fact that no Barcelona team had ever beaten Los Blancos twice in a row at the Bernabéu, or defeated Real on four consecutive occasions.
That was before the kickoff, and also before two brilliant Xavi passes—a chip and a through ball, both of talismanic quality, that reasserted the Spanish playmaker as the world's preeminent midfielder—that led to a pair of goals, the first from Messi and the second from Pedro Rodr¡guez, that left a previously buzzing crowd stunned and speechless at their home side's 2-0 defeat. For Real Madrid and its fans, hopes of a title had been quashed...and in the worst possible way.
Or had they been? Looking ahead, it is easy to see that Barcelona boasts the schedule of least resistance the rest of the way, that is of course domestically, with four of their final seven matches coming against teams in the bottom fourth of the table, which includes the soon to be relegated Tenerife, Valladolid and Xerez, who sit 18th, 19th, and 20th, respectively. However, the azulgranas will also be forced to concentrate their efforts on the UEFA Champions League Semifinals over the next two weeks against Jose Mourinho's dangerous Internazionale side, which could behoove Real Madrid (but I wouldn't count on it the way Barça is currently playing), who were dumped out of the world's most prestigious football tournament in the round of 16 for the sixth straight season, this time by French side Lyon.
Back in August, numerous pundits predicted that Real's exorbitant spending in the summer transfer window would have a serious effect on the outcome of this year's Champions League, what with the madridistas looking like Major League Baseball's version of the Yankees (or the NFL's version of the Jets, dare I say) with talent bursting at the seams. In fact, as the roster appeared on the page, Real Madrid were undoubtedly favorites to nab a record 10th European Cup. And in the end, these pundits were right about the Real effect, but for the wrong reasons.
Obviously, the Spanish giants will not be capturing another European championship this season to add to their illustrious history on the continent, but the countless predictions insisting they would formed only a mere layer of one big onion of a forecast. But surely, anyone could have predicted that Manchester United would be a weaker side without Ronaldo, even though they progressed to the final eight of the UCL with relative ease over a lackluster AC Milan side, who certainly looked like they missed Kaká's guile.
Xabi Alonso's departure from Liverpool proved to be far more significant than CR9's from Old Trafford. The Reds have lacked creativity in the midfield during a tumultuous season that saw them eliminated from the UCL in the group stages, as they were sent packing for the Europa League (a competition whose victory will feel more like a consolation prize than anything else should the Merseysiders progress to and win the final in Hamburg on May 12), finishing third to Fiorentina and Lyon, who rounded out Group E in first and second, respectively. Although the departures of Ronaldo, Kaká, and maybe even Alonso, and the detrimental effects their absences have caused in their former outfits might have been sniffed out by the experts, few could have predicted Lyon's unprecedented resurgence thanks much in part to the departure of Benzema.
The young Frenchman, who has severely disappointed for Manuel Pellegrini's side this season (not to mention for the French National Team)—though he has battled injury for much of the campaign—left Lyon for greener pastures last summer leaving vacant the lone striker position up top in manager Claude Puel's 4-3-2-1 formation.
The club responded by signing motivated forward Bafétimbi Gomis from Saint-&EACUTEtienne, and versatile attacker Lisandro López from Porto, both of whom have been invaluable to Lyon's quest for their first European crown in club history. But especially López, who leads the team with 22 goals in all competitions, which includes a critical game-tying goal in the 90th minute that frustrated Liverpool at the Stade de Gerland back in November during the UCL group stages and then two more, including the game-winner in an all-French UCL quarterfinal against Bordeaux that saw Laurent Blanc's side off before the second leg even commenced (3-2 agg.); Lyon are now headed to their first UCL semifinal in club history, and López, thanks to Benzema's elopement to Madrid, is a big reason why.
But the glitzy superstars Real Madrid brought to the Bernabéu and the mostly negative repercussions it has had for other clubs (including Real itself) is only one half of the story. The accruement of new galácticos, in turn, rendered previous regulars expendable, most notably their gifted trio of Dutchmen in Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Sneijder made way for Alonso and headed to Inter where he has enjoyed a career revival under the Special One in becoming the orchestrator of the Nerazzurri midfield. It was his deftest of passes that fed Samuel Eto'o down the left side of the pitch who converted the juiciest of opportunities in London that saw off Chelsea in the UCL round of 16 at Stamford Bridge last month.
Robben passed the torch to Ronaldo and headed to Bavaria in what appeared to be a brief pit-stop for the Holland winger with Bayern Munich. Despite battling injuries, though, Robben has relished his new role at the Allianz Arena: that role, of course, being the best player in Germany at the moment. He is almost guaranteed to win Bundesliga player of the year, and his stunning volley off of a Franck Ribéry corner at Old Trafford last week that sent Bayern through to the UCL semis past United was one of the greatest goals ever scored in the storied tournament.
And van Nistelrooy? Written off by much of the Spanish media as being washed up, Ruud has once again found his stride at Hamburg, scoring a pair of vital goals in the Europa League knockout stages, one each against Belgian outfits Anderlecht and Standard Liège en route to the semifinals where HSV will take on Fulham. RvN has become a regular in a starting XI once again.
So does Real Madrid regret their extravagant summer shopping and its ramifications? Until they've officially lost the La Liga title to Barcelona, probably not. But even finishing atop Spain's most competitive league won't be enough to assuage Real's administration, its players, and its fans after a season that fell light-years short of the ambitious goals the club sought out so ardently to achieve from the beginning of the spree.
Real Madrid has single-handedly shaken up the landscape of European football, and while its trash in the forms of Sneijder, Robben, and van Nistelrooy continue to shine as other club's treasures, fighting for the European glory Real has so craved since it last tasted its sweet nectar in 2002, you can bet that another summer of reckless expenditure is only months away and that the rest of Europe will be watching every move with the keenest of eyes.