IF YOU HAD TO BE STUCK IN A LIFT with one footballing personality, who would you want it to be? You could pass the time asking Andrés Iniesta what it’s like to…
Tag: real madrid
THREE EVENTS OCCURRED in perfect synchronicity in order to facilitate Florentino Pérez’s second attempt at managing the global superpower that is Real Madrid. The first was on 10 March 2009 as Real Madrid…
IMAGINE YOURSELF AT 15. You, as many others, were probably worried about next week’s maths test or perhaps if that cute boy or girl at the front of the class was into…
IT’S 7 JANUARY 1995 – EL CLÁSICO DAY. The tension, as always, is incredibly high, but this match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, midway through the campaign, has the feel of a contest…
“YES ISCO, I stopped the silliness.” This was Asier Illarramendi’s first return to Anoeta since he decided to switch the blue and white stripes of Real Sociedad for the famous white of…
There’s an old saying that everything that can be interpreted can also, by design, be misinterpreted. Which camp the oft-besieged figure of striker Nicolas Anelka falls into is a matter of opinion.…
THE DATE IS 7 July 1974 in a packed Olympiastadion in Munich. With the scoreboard showing 1-0 in favour of the dominant Total Footballers from the Netherlands, Bernd Hölzenbein latches onto the…
It’s always hard if you’re seen as the sidekick in a successful partnership. Ricardo Carvalho has often had to play second fiddle to bigger names in the various teams he’s played for…
A bustling café looks out onto a marina harbouring luxurious yachts and boats exclusive to the affluent. The enclosed water is calm and tourists visiting this shrine to the rich are serene,…
IN THE LONG HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL, a total of just 20 men can boast lifting the game’s ultimate prize. It is a particularly selective group of illustrious players, but of all those…
For the second time in three years, the two biggest teams in Madrid faced each other in the Champions League final. Real Madrid had endured a somewhat disappointing season, unable to fight…
And so, another one-nation final and yet another all-Madrid Champions League final awaits us. Beyond the obvious delight of the Spanish capital’s fan base and their decampment to Milan for 28 May,…
MONEY BUYS QUALITY. Quality in football is, to a large extent, determined by the individual actions of a player that are measurable. Goals scored, passes completed, assists given, interceptions made; the list…
For many the European Cup final of 1960 between Frankfurt and Real Madrid remains the greatest club game ever. This is the story of the remarkable Eagles from Hesse.
Football fans are often crying out for an icon to lead them towards glory, a rare talisman who can create dreams on the field of play by acting as a glowing beacon to…
The art of diplomacy, it is said, is to recognise the beliefs, opinions and feelings of other people and to balance them accordingly with those of their opponents – breeding it itself an…
HOW DO YOU MEASURE SUCCESS in football management? If it’s just about emerging victorious, José Mourinho is up there with the best over the past decade. There’s no doubt that José Mourinho is…
FRANCISCO GENTO MAY NOT BE A NAME that many of today’s younger supporters will recognise, however he is one of the most successful and decorated players of all time at club level.…