Nobody can accuse Spain’s top teams of lacking stars. Real Madrid has Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Iker Casillas and now Mesut Özil and Sami Khedira. Barcelona, meanwhile, has eight players from Spain’s World Cup-winning squad, including Xavi Hernández, David Villa and Pedro Rodríguez. And yet, as the Spanish league season gets underway, the eye is drawn not to midfielder Andrés Iniesta, a football genius in an accountant’s body, or the stepovers and hair gel of Ronaldo, but rather the two sharply dressed men overseeing these players at the side of the pitch. This season, perhaps more than any other, is a battle between two managerial auteurs: Barcelona’s Pep Guardiola and Madrid’s José … [Read more...] about It’s Real Mourinho vs. Spain FC as La Liga begins
Galacticos
Halftime for Real Madrid’s neo-Galácticos
What do you buy with €250 million? If you’re Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez, you acquire a handful of the world’s most highly valued football players in a bid to create the best team on the planet. After his uncontested election as club president last summer, Pérez went shopping for a gaggle of superstars. Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká, Xabi Alonso and Karim Benzema were the biggest signings – major talents who had established themselves in the English, Italian or French leagues with style and goals. Six months on from the euphoria (at least in Madrid) surrounding Pérez’s arrival and consequent recession-defying splash-out, it’s a good time to take stock and gauge the success of … [Read more...] about Halftime for Real Madrid’s neo-Galácticos