Real Madrid (old thread)

[AnfieldEd]

I am a marcelo fan - Gio knows this full well too. For sure his best position is not a defensive one though! I'd definitely keep him in the squad as he is class at left midfield.

 

[Fourteen]

He's up and down that left flank like no mans business. As long as he isn't on the last line of defence he's excellent at working with the left-back in attacking and doubling up on the wide right opposition.

 

[FCB_Titi_LB]

Marcelo is a laughing stock

 

[Aryagorn]

Marcelo is a nice squad player... Would give nice competition to their left winger, if they are going to buy one in future

 

[Metaphysical]

as a midfielder marcelo is actually brilliant.

Sport produced a list of 7 "blacklisted" madrid players who will be out on their ear come the end of the season: Guti, Metzelder, Raul, Dudek, Gago, Drenthe and Diarra

hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

agreed that he's not the same at the moment; but he will improve as he gets stronger and recovers more from his injury. remember you can be fit to play without having fully recovered from an injury - recall xavi coming back from doing his cruciates and not hitting his stride 'til mid 07/08. plus he's not playing regularly, making it harder to get sharp anyway.

but I'll be glad if he leaves. he'll get back to his best, and not at real madrid!

 

[Raed]

Diarra needs two years to recover.

 

[Benzema10]

If toulalan is out M.Diarra will come back to Lyon ^.^

 

[veryfatchocobo]

Diarra needs two years to recover.

Spot on. Puyol took this long to recover from his knee injury. Everyone thought he was a flop in 07 after his end-of-the-season knee injury, now we say he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Same thing applies to Xavi.

 

[jamrock]

Real’s Tickets Flop After $300 Million Spending Spree (Update1)

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Real Madrid said building its team by spending a record $300 million on players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka was like making a blockbuster movie. So far, it hasn’t been a hit for the world’s richest club.

While Real leads the Spanish league, it is selling fewer jerseys than Chelsea and Liverpool, according to uniform supplier Adidas AG. Attendance at the club’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium has fallen 7.8 percent from last season, as Spain suffers its worst recession in 60 years.

It may get worse. Real must come back from a 1-0 deficit against Lyon tonight to reach the quarterfinals of Europe’s Champions League. Being eliminated may mean losing as much as $82 million in prize money, sponsorships and other revenue, according to Simon Chadwick, a professor of sports business strategy and marketing at Coventry University Business School in England.

“Many people would have legitimate concerns the club will be unable to generate an acceptable return on their player- investment strategy,” Chadwick said. It “would seriously undermine Real Madrid’s business model.”

Real Madrid President Florentino Perez, seeking to kick- start a team that hasn’t reached the Champions League quarterfinals since 2004, borrowed 151.5 million euros ($207 million) from Banco Santander SA and Caja Madrid to finance the signings of Ronaldo and Kaka, according to club accounts. It also acquired Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso during the offseason.

Loan Repayment

It will pay back the loans at a rate linked to the Euribor, the euro area’s interbank offered rate, through June 2015, according to the accounts published in September.

The investment in players swelled the team’s debt beyond the 510 million euros it already owed, club accounts show.

“The movie promises to be a blockbuster,” Real Madrid general director Jorge Valdano said at a televised news conference on May 19, days before Real Madrid embarked on its spending spree.

Kaka was the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year after he helped AC Milan win the Champions League and Club World Cup. Ronaldo, whose 80 million-pound ($120 million) sale by Manchester United is a record, was voted world player of the year in 2008, after winning the English Premier League and Champions League with the Red Devils.

‘Los Galacticos’

A recession in Spain, whose 19.5 percent unemployment rate is the highest in the euro region, is hurting Real’s plan. Average attendances at Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium declined to 67,461 from 73,157 since last season, according to data collated on ESPN’s Soccernet Web site. Real Madrid’s jersey sales trail Chelsea and Liverpool’s partly because English fans are more likely to wear their favorite team’s uniform than Spanish counterparts for cultural reasons, Adidas spokeswoman Katja Schreiber said. She declined to provide sales figures.

Real Madrid has a history of success on the field. It has won a record nine European Cups, and the team collected a group of star players known as “Los Galacticos” in Perez’s earlier stint as president.

Real Madrid declined to comment for this story. The club, which is owned by its members, said in an e-mail it doesn’t discuss financial matters other than in its annual report, which is compiled after each fiscal year.

Television Contract

“Real Madrid has a lot resting on its role in the Champions League,” said Jose Maria Gay, a Barcelona University professor who specializes in soccer finance. “Its costs have soared and it’s under pressure to increase its income by about 20 percent to balance its accounts.”

An exit now may mean Real Madrid misses out on performance- related bonuses from sponsors, said Michael Stirling, managing director of London-based Global Sponsors Ltd. The team’s partners include online bookmaker Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG.

Real Madrid gets some protection from a 1.1 billion-euro television contract with Barcelona-based Mediapro that runs from 2006 to 2013. That helps make up more than one-third of the 421.7 million euros income it expects in the 12 months through June 30 this year, club accounts show.

Coach Manuel Pellegrini said he is optimistic, based on the team’s Spanish league play. Real Madrid has 67 goals in 25 games, a better scoring ratio than any other club in Europe’s five biggest championships.

“The numbers we are producing support the club’s project,” Pellegrini said at a Feb. 20 news conference, adding that the data is better than that of Real Madrid’s Champions League-winning teams of 1998, 2000 and 2002.

Still, losing to Lyon would set back Real Madrid’s brand against rivals from the Premier League, the richest domestic league, and end its chances of contesting the final in its own Bernabeu stadium, Gay said.

“Real Madrid lacks that extra something on an international stage,” Gay said. “It’s got a great team but we’re waiting for the results.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Duff in Madrid at at aduff4@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 10, 2010 11:57 EST

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=anEmuIWvbs7Q

 

[Beast]

Thanks for the article Jamrock , kinda expected especially after crashing out in the CL cost us 30 Million losses

 

[Moe]

the surprising thing is that the attendance declined a good 5.8k. Did match tickets become more expensive after luring all these superstars? and by how much?

that would be the only explanation since the team is playing more attractive than last year, scoring more goals, conceding less goals, and having more points. Lets not forget that theyve won every single home game.

 

[Beast]

Nope haven't heard anything about the normal tickets , it probably has to do with the dire economy and unemployment rate .
however the decline isn't a bigger deal than the CL crash and the missed incentive for going higher up

 

[Moe]

ohh ok thanks for explaining. For sure the CL exist was a bigger blow but I just thought it was weird to see the decline in the attendance.

Anyway in a Madrid-related news the Daily Star reports that Real Madrid are, yet again, interested in Steven Gerrard and would try to lure him in the summer for a region of £30m

 

[Beast]

Crap news but i would tell you we would consider Torres after his declarations last night

Benzema for Torres would be good

 

[adil_909]

lol you guys wrote nearly 10 pages (and several essays) arguing about eto'os value???? that's a lot of posts!