Why did Real Madrids Galacticos fail so much?

[RaddyRed]

I'm not sure a backline containing Casillas, Salgado, Helguera and Carlos can be described as mediocre.

Makelele was the major mistake. They offered him a deal on less money than the major stars which he accepted and then they signed Beckham and said the contract was rescinded as they couldn't afford it after Beckham. Perez then told Maklele to find a new club.

A top DM really does make such a difference to a side.

 

[FootballHQ]

Wasn't that the season Morientes actually knocked them out of CL for Monaco?

Yeah basically shedding all the squad players did for them as they had hardly any depth beyond first 11 so had to play kids at the back when Helguera or Salgado were out.

Selling Makelele a big error and they also let Hierro go when they really should've kept him for another 12 months to keep the dressing room in check.

Figo was also starting to decline so they really should've just dropped him or sold him and put Beckham out on the wing where he'd have done what he did best (and did right at the end of his final season) but instead tried to convert him into Pirlo type CM where he had his limitations.

 

[Andrade]

I'm not sure a backline containing Casillas, Salgado, Helguera and Carlos can be described as mediocre.

Makelele was the major mistake. They offered him a deal on less money than the major stars which he accepted and then they signed Beckham and said the contracted was rescinded as they could afford it after Beckham. Perez then told Maklele to find a new club.

A top DM really does make such a difference to a side.

Absolutely true. They tried to disrespect him because they foolishly didn't realise his importance to the team.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

The Gravesen-Robinho training ground fight was the greatest thing to come out of the Galacticos-era Madrid

 

[Zen]

Pavon-Helguera

With Guti and Zidane shielding it

Dropping Raul or Guti for Makelele wouldn't have fixed it either. There's gung ho and there's too gung ho.

 

[Iker Quesadillas]

There was never enough quality in that squad. If you look at the players outside of the Galacticos, most of them didn't have elite careers either at RM or outside. The Real Madrid squads of the last few years are full of people who'd done well before and have done well afterward.

Pavon was terrible and cried on the pitch after another one of his terrible games. He was out of his depth and it was unfair on the kid.

I think you are thinking of Ruben Gonzalez. He had a very unremarkable career.

 

[TwoSheds]

Pavon-Helguera

With Guti and Zidane shielding it

Dropping Raul or Guti for Makelele wouldn't have fixed it either. There's gung ho and there's too gung ho.

Zidane used to play mostly off the left though didn't he? Maybe not all the time but I don't think they really expected him to put a shift in like McManaman or Beckham.

 

[Schneckerl]

I'm not sure a backline containing Casillas, Salgado, Helguera and Carlos can be described as mediocre.

Well, they won trophies in 2001/02 and 2002/03. In 2003/04, they had Raúl Bravo and Pavón starting, who I'd say are pretty mediocre. At that point, Salgado, Helguera, and Carlos were also past their best.

 

[Ekeke]

All on the ball players and no team oriented ball winners in midfield. Lots of pressure on the defence and keeper

 

[TwoSheds]

Also Salgado was rubbish. Just ran around a lot - right back Robbie Savage.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

What a fecking team Obviously a bit unbalanced, but wow.

The best teams of 15 years ago would walk over the best teams of today. Why is this?

That Real Madrid team in the OP would get blasted by so many teams today.

 

[GatoLoco]

That team played awesome football for 6 months in 2003/04. The problem that season was not so much about that starting eleven, but lack of depth from the bench. The same guys played almost every game.

Hence the conversation Zidane and Giuly had at Monaco.

On that day, April 6, 2004, Zidane's conversation with Ludovic Giuly made headlines.

"Ludo, can't you see that we're done," he said, after the Monaco player had jokingly suggested that Real Madrid should let them win that game, not believing they had a chance of overturning the deficit.

https://ghanasoccernet.com/zidanes-warning-to-avoid-a-repeat-of-real-madrids-2004-collapse

It's because what happened then that Zidane got obsessed with team fitness in the second halves of seasons.

 

[shamans]

Is that really how they lined up? I was young then but sure Beckham was playing on the wing instead of the midfield.

And again, I was young but I remember being very impressed with Madrid whenever they played. So this talk about square pegs and all may not be true and I'm suspicious of it being true because it wasn't for England.

I just checked a lineup from 2006 where they played a 4-4-2 diamond and Beckham for at least that conversation is not in midfield.

 

[Luke1995]

Probably because the project really started when Barça got Ronaldinho. And they masterfully added Deco and Eto'o a year later.

That Barcelona team was set-up for more consistency in overall games. Madrid was brilliant in patches. That's the main reason I think.

 

[giorno]

Lack of depth, out of control player power, a president that did not believe managers mattered at all and so never bothered to hire someone fit for the team AND back him against said team, and finally age. By 04/05 most of those stars had begun a serious decline and younger, hungrier players elsewhere took their places as the world's best players

Still the team won a CL and a league in consecutive years

 

[André Dominguez]

Like many said: not giving Makelele a raise and the lack of quality depth in the overall squad made it difficult to triumph.

 

[Gio]

Wasn't that the season Morientes actually knocked them out of CL for Monaco?

Yeah basically shedding all the squad players did for them as they had hardly any depth beyond first 11 so had to play kids at the back when Helguera or Salgado were out.

Selling Makelele a big error and they also let Hierro go when they really should've kept him for another 12 months to keep the dressing room in check.

Figo was also starting to decline so they really should've just dropped him or sold him and put Beckham out on the wing where he'd have done what he did best (and did right at the end of his final season) but instead tried to convert him into Pirlo type CM where he had his limitations.

Yep. He was on his last legs by then, but there was a massive quality and organisational gulf between Hierro and Pavon. Hierro could lead that defence and marshall the young pups like Pavon and Bravo around him. It was the double whammy of losing Makelele and Hierro at the same time that broke the backbone of the team.

 

[Nicolarra90]

When they bought Beckham the jigsaw was 'complete'. But for the next 3 years or so they won absolutely nothing when most of them were still in their prime.

-------------------Casillas--------------------------
Salgado-----Pavon-------Helguera-----Carlos
---------------Beckham------Guti--------------------
---------Figo---------------------------Zidane------
--------------Ronaldo-------Raul--------------------


Strange really, they should have done what the recent Madrid did and dominated football - winning 3 Champions league in a row.

At that time I was a kid and I couldn't understand... Now I see that starting 11 and I totally understand.

 

[tentan]

Like many said: not giving Makelele a raise and the lack of quality depth in the overall squad made it difficult to triumph.

 

[DevilRed]

"Zidanes Y Pavons"

Twats.

Not enough balance in the squad.

 

[giorno]

People always confuse correlation with causation when it comes to Makelele. Yes, he was a key player and letting him go like that hurt us. But that wasn't the reason the project collapsed

First: Florentino didn't think managers mattered, and sacked Del Bosque, followed by a series of frankly ridiculous hirings
Second: the Pavones part of Zidanes y Pavones failed spectacularly as soon as injuries started mounting up
Third: the "Zidanes" were getting old
Fourth: aside from Figo and Zidane, the rest of the team was ridiculously unprofessional, with nobody capable of reining them in

 

[Adam-Utd]

The percect example of too much talent and not enough water carriers.

As others have mentioned, if they put Beckham on RW and kept Makelele in CM they'd have probably done a lot better.

 

[Siorac]

Fourth: aside from Figo and Zidane, the rest of the team was ridiculously unprofessional

Beckham? As far as I can recall, his workrate was top notch and played without complaint in an unfamiliar position.

 

[giorno]

Beckham? As far as I can recall, his workrate was top notch and played without complaint in an unfamiliar position.

Went to Ronaldo's parties

 

[Dansk]

Signing players for their level of fame with no regard for how well they'd fit into a team together.

In a way, they probably improved the following generation at Real Madrid more than they did their own, because while they didn't have a whole lot of footballing success, the Galacticos cemented Real Madrid as the pinnacle of footballing prestige and elevated the club's revenue immensely by drawing everyone's attention to them. Think of how many lifelong fans that crop of players created. I have no doubt that the club's current clout stems in large part from that period, because while Real Madrid have always been big, the Galacticos era made them the kings of football despite not winning everything in their path.

 

[JSArsenal]

If they managed to sign Vieira around the same time as Beckham, then things may have been different.

 

[BarcaSpurs]

Cos it was built like a Garth Crooks team of the week.

 

[Bobski]

Lack of depth outside the first 11. That is the key difference between the Galactico project and the top clubs of today who can stockpile benches of top players and manage their workload. We have seen the benefit of that in domestic records for points, goals shattered in many of the big leagues.

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

When they bought Beckham the jigsaw was 'complete'. But for the next 3 years or so they won absolutely nothing when most of them were still in their prime.

-------------------Casillas--------------------------
Salgado-----Pavon-------Helguera-----Carlos
---------------Beckham------Guti--------------------
---------Figo---------------------------Zidane------
--------------Ronaldo-------Raul--------------------


Strange really, they should have done what the recent Madrid did and dominated football - winning 3 Champions league in a row.

Beckham and Guti in Midfield two is a disaster

 

[kaiser1]

The Galactico experiment was going on well till 2003 when Perez fired DelBosque for not looking refined enough and got Quieroz.

Also getting Beckham a Right winger for a role already covered by Figo thus having to try Beckham at CM even at right back

 

[RoyH1]

Went to Ronaldo's parties

I've read some pretty wild stories in the Spanish press about Ronaldo saving Beckham from a furious/jealous Victoria storming into VIP sections at Madrid nightclubs. Don't know how much truth there is in them, but they make for some entertaining reading.

 

[tentan]

Beckham and Guti in Midfield two is a disaster

 

[SadlerMUFC]

No Makelele....thread/

 

[MrMarcello]

Why didn't Cambiasso cut it at Real?

Went to Inter and turned into a world class central mid.

 

[Invictus]

• Lack of optimized defensive balance and off-the-ball work. Previous vintages boasted fairly good defensive organization with the likes of Hierro, Sanchís, Karanka, Campo at the back — and Redondo shielding them in midfield (and subsequently Makelélé). And more than just individual players, they had roles players and a strong ethos reverberating through segments of the team — which helped them overcome some of the most formidable opponents of the era.
• The absence of managers like del Bosque or Heynckes as the project went on (or even a dour tactician like Capello). Queiroz was not suited to the challenge and proved to be incapable of getting the best out of the group or keeping the monstrous, all-consuming egos in check when he was not backed to the hilt by Florentino Pérez himself, and the same went for Luxemburgo, Caro or Remón.
• There was something really special about the spine of Hierro—>Redondo—>Raúl that had led them to so much success in previous years. Hierro was the defensive glue and captain, Redondo provided balance and resolve in midfield (but also flair) and Raúl made a lot of personal sacrifices at the highest stages for the collective good (despite being the local boy wonder). All three were great and led by example, and as they left or declined considerably there was a natural deflation of the team's fortunes. That intangible effect was underestimated, and some of the new entrees did not make comparable sacrifices.
• As years went on, the players that spear-headed the Galáctico I project were Galácticos on paper but not always in practice. Fenômeno was in terminal descent and not the player he was at his peak on a week-to-week basis, and the same went for many of the others as they entered the last stages of their careers at the elite level. Plus, great players do not always excel with other great players (unless they are complementary fits, have natural chemistry or recalibrate their game to suit each other); look at Scholes, Lampard and Gerrard, for example.
• An overall squad that was not well-conceived or well-balanced. When Madrid needed difference-makers off the bench or reliable depth in case of injury or suspension, the group beyond the Starting XI was found wanting.

But the failure of the project turned out to be a blessing in disguise in the grand scheme of things. Recent Madrid teams (that have enjoyed historic levels of success) have been well-balanced for the most part, the squad had decent depth in most years, and even star players like Modrić and Benzema have worked relentlessly for the great good. And they've been overseen by good man-managers like Ancelotti and Zidane.

 

[Hoof the ball]

Got rid of Del Bosque. He was the only one who could glue them together.

 

[T_Model101]

Is the Galactico's mini series on Disney Plus?

 

[DannyCAFC]

1. They were managed by terrible managers like Carlos Queiroz and Vanderlei Luxemburgo.
2. They proceeded to damage the shape and spine of the team to fit in more superstars - i.e. selling Makelele and replacing him with Beckham.
3. Their depth signings beyond the superstars were people like Jonathan Woodgate and Thomas Gravesen.

 

[GatoLoco]

Maybe this also gives you some clue

On Wanderlei: "Wanderlei Luxemburgo lasted six months at Real Madrid. In our second game of La Liga, we used to arrive at the hotel, leave our suitcases in the room and before dinner, drink some beer and our wine. And always on the table was the wine, two bottles on each table. Me and Ronaldo came to talk to him and we said: "We have our ways here and you'll see, but try not to change. Dont prohibit us from drinking our wine and our 20 minutes of beer before dinner or we will have a problem", we said. "Then what did he do? First he prohibited the beer and then the bottles of wine. Lasted three months because the football world is small, the news got to the board and goodbye. It was the atmosphere of our dressing room", he continued.

On the lifestyle: "Today I wonder how we used to do so much useless stuff. Soon as the game was over, everyone to their own private flights. We used to meet up in the private area at the airport. It was Beckham god knows to where, then Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo, me, Casillas... And we had training two days later. I used to go to Formula 1 very frequently. I prayed that the games were on saturday so i could see Formula 1 on sunday, wherever it was. Private flights everywhere.", he says.

On Del Bosque: "He understood us perfectly. He always started the training sessions at afternoon. Monday and tuesday training sessions were all at 5pm. He never started at 11am because he knew nobody would arrive in time. Cool history, eh? What a great example we are giving to the kids at home... Don't do what we did but win what we won."

He also spoke about Camacho wanting to have training sessions at 7 am. He lasted 10 days as coach.

 

[galwayfa]

Was Beckham's time deemed a football success not a business one at Madrid?