La décima

For many years, (10 years) Real Madrid have been struggling to win La décima, or the tenth.Their last champions league triumph was back in 2002 where Zidane hit the famous volley to win the game. From 2003-2006 Real Madrid appeared in the finals and the semi finals. After the departure of Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo (Brazil) and many other Real Madrid legends, Real Madrid had a very tough time trying to get to the round of 16 by winning the group stages. But when the arrival of the big money players came in 2008-2009 Real Madrid were back on track to win the tenth champions league they have been dreaming to get. Real Madrid base all of their managers and players they bring to the club on Champions league experience or if they are good enough to be in the Champions league. In 2008 Real Madrid failed to do good in the champions cup by a terrifying Liverpool 4-0 defeat. Ironically, Real Madrid signed Cristiano Ronaldo who won the most goals scored and player of the competition of the champions cup, and in 2009 Real Madrid lost against the french team Olympic Lyonais 2-1, Lyon eventually made it to the semi final, but lost against a strong Bayer Munich. In 2010 all of it changed when Real Madrid brought in play makers and defenders hoping to win the champions league,they won against Lyon 4-1 to get the revenge they wanted and beat Tottenham Hotspurs 5-0 but lost 3-1 against Barcelona in the semi final. This not only brought discomfort to losing in the champions league another year in a row, but to lose against their rivals FC Barcelona, Real Madrid were not too happy about it. In the year 2011-2012 campaign, Real Madrid had easy knockout rounds, they faced CSKA Moscow of Russia, APOEL of Greece, when they made it to the semi-final they faced the German giants Bayern Munich, after losing 2-1 in the first leg, Real Madrid had a 2-0 lead in the second leg to win the game but unfortunately suffered from a last minute goal, the game went to penalties where Real Madrid lost 3-1. Bayern eventually lost against Chelsea in the final. In the 2012-2013 champions league, Real Madrid were drawn in the group of death, they were drawn with Borussia Dortmund the number one team in Germany, Manchester City the number one team in England and lastly Ajax the number one team in Holland, Real Madrid finished second, moving onto the knockout rounds. When they made it to the knockout rounds, they played Manchester United winning 3-2, they played Galatasaray the Turkish champions, and in the semi final played against Borussia Dortmund again. They lost the first leg in Germany 4-1 all coming from the same Dortmund player, Robert Lewandowski. When the second leg came, the stadium was absolutely full, Real Madrid were controlling the match the entire game but failed to score 3 goals to win the game, they scored 2 goals all coming in the last ten minutes of the game, and after a unpleasant Dortmund acting disrespectful and wasting time Real madrid lost the game.

Currently Real Madrid are in the group of death, with the Italian champions Juventus, the Turkish champions Galatasaray and the Denmark champions Copenhagen. They are on top of the table with 9 points (3 wins) and beat Galatasaray 6-1, Copenhagen 4-0 and Juventus 2-1. Ronaldo is currently the top scorer with 7 goals in 3 matches.

The information was gathered from http://www.europeancuphistory.com/clubs/real.html

El Clásico

El Clásico is the name given to any football matches between Real Madrid and their rivals Barcelona, the rivalry comes about between Real Madrid and Barcelona are the two largest cities in Spain, and the two clubs are among the richest and most successful football teams around the world. Currently Real Madrid has more wins then Barcelona when it comes to El Clásico  (90 to 86). Along with Atletico Bilbao, these are the only 3 teams in Spain to never be relegated (bottom 3). These teams are sometimes identified with opposing political problems, with Real Madrid representing Spanish nationalism and Barcelona representing Catalanism, this rivalry is regarded as one of the biggest rivalries in world football. During the last 3 decades the rivalry was intensified when the Pasillo came along, the pasillo consists of that when one team wins the league and there are some games left for the team, the opposing team must perform a guard of honor for the league winners, this has been done 3 times between Real Madrid and Barcelona, the last Pasillo was in 2008, and Barcelona performed it for Real Madrid.

The two teams met again in the 2002 Champions League semi final, with Real Madrid winning the first leg 2-0 and drawing the second leg 1-1, those matches dubbed by the Spanish media as "the match of the century" was watched more then 500 million people. In the El Clásico  held on November 2005, Barcelona played at Madrid and won the game 3-0 the star of the team was Ronaldinho, who became the second player after Diego Maradona to receive a standing ovation at the Madrid Stadium the Santiago Bernabeu.

In 2011 the rivalry was getting more and more intense, because of the Copa Del Reyfinal coming up against Barcelona and the champions league semi final against Barcelona as well, that means that the both teams were scheduled to face each other 4 times in 18 days, which caused a lot of conflict in the Spanish national team, containing 4 Real Madrid players and 5 Barcelona players, Vincente Del Bosque, the Spanish national team manager was afraid that this would cause friction between the national side.

On 7 October, Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to score in 6 consecutive Clásicos, Ronaldos run began in the 2011-2012 Copa Del Rey and is still going on after having scored against Barcelona at the Camp Nou the Catalonia Stadium.


To conclude i think that the el classico is probably the best rivalry in the sports world, its a battle between the two best players in the world, (Ronaldo and Messi), its a battle between the two best clubs in the world, and its a battle between political diassagreements. Every time the classico is on TV I jump to go watch it with all of my soccer friends and we have a good time because of how the tension is on the field, and the highlights are too fun to rewatch again and relive that magnificent moment.

The information was gathered from http://worldsoccer.about.com/od/Soccer-History/a/Real-Madrid-Versus-Barcelona-The-History-Of-El-Clasico.htm

El Clásico

Real Madrid Transfer Market in the last 5 seasons (2009-2013)

Real Madrid Club de Futbol have had an interesting numbers of transfers when it comes to the transfer window, every year, 2 transfer windows open which gives a chance to the managers to try to buy other players. How it works is that a team approches another team to buy a player, the fee goes to the transfer budget and some of it goes to the players themselves. When the manager agrees the team approches the player to discuss the contract, the contract divides in 3 categories, weekly pay, bonus per goal or bonus per clean sheet if the player is a defender and lastly how long the contract is until the player resigns or joins another club as a free agent.

In 2009, Real Madrid broke the world record in signing Cristiano Ronaldo for 132 million dollars from Manchester United in England, they also bought the french player of the year Karim Benzema for their striker position, they also bought Ricardo Kaka for another big amount for 88 million dollars. This year was a dissapointment for Real Madrid, Ronaldo was injured, and although he was one of the top scorers of the league they failed to win the league after an 8 year league loss.

With the arrival of the Champions league giant Jose Mourinho was announced as head coach in 2010, Real Madrid brought in a youngster by the name of Mesut Ozil, although he was only 23, this young man went on to become one of the greatest midfielders in the world, his first year he got 35 assists which lighted up some sparks for teams to sign him, also, Real Madrid bought the right winger Angel Di Maria from Benfica in Portugal, they also bought 2 defenders, Sami Khedira and Ricardo Carvalho.

In the 2011-2012 season, Real Madrid did not buy anyone except their left back Fabio Coentrao, it was their best year, not only did Ronaldo score 60 goals in one season, but they finally won the league after a 9 year absence, they did not win the champions league nor the spanish cup but they finally won and took back the year from Barcelona.

In the 2012-2013 season, it was their most dissapointed year, Iker Cassilas had broke his hand and they had to get a new goalkeeper, they bought Diego Lopez who at the end proved his worth at the end of the season, Real Madrid also bought Luka Modric. The season was dissapointing they lost the league by 30 points and lost the spanish league finals against their local derby Atletico Madrid. The reason Real Madrid did so poorly was because they were concentrating on the champions league, they lost in the semi finals against the German giants Borussia Dortmund, they lost the first leg 4-1 and won the second leg 2-0 and needed only 1 goal to get into the final, but Borussia Dortmund played dirty and got away.

August 2013, Real Madrid bought Gareth Bale for 135 million dollars, from Tottenham Hotspurs, they bought the golden boy of the year, Isco from Malaga for 38 million dollars, they also bought Illaramendi for 38 million dollars, and got Dani Carvajal back from loan in Germany, Real madrid sold their German giant Mesut Ozil for 50 million dollars and sold their striker Gonzalo Higuain and their Raul albiol and Jose Callejon all to Napoli for 50 million dollars.

To conclude Real madrid have spent over half a billion dollars in only 5 years.

Real Madrid CF 2

Real Madrid have a tendency to make players legends before and after they leave football, for example, every Real Madrid player sold in the last 10 years have gone to become superstars at other clubs, for example, Wesley Sneijder used to play with Real Madrid, the Netherlands youngster had to leave the club, but when he arrived at Internationalize Milan he became a superstar there and not only won the league but won the Treble back in 2010, (won the league + league cup + champions league) and also, his national teammate Arjen Robben was also a Real Madrid player back in 2007, and when he was sold to Bayern Munich in 2009 he won the Treble win Bayern in 2012 as well. Not only do Real Madrid buy superstars but they also make superstars, many Real Madrid youth club members have made it to the top of the world when it comes to high class football, for example Juan Mata, Chelsea Attacking midfielder, Alvaro Negredo Manchester citys striker, and Luis Garcia, Real Zaragozas striker, etc.. Also back in the 1980s, they made superstars and legends such as Alfredo Di Stefano, Hugo Sanchez and many more. Unfortunately, Gareth Bale has not played for Real Madrid yet, because of his lack of fitness due to his absence in the preseason, he has been put on pause until he is fit which will be after the International Break next weekend.

According to Real Madrids new coach Carlo Ancelotti, they are focusing more on attacking and controlling the ball then when it comes to defense, why do i say this perhaps? Real Madrid although they are 3rd place in La Liga BBVA and only 5 points behind their rivals Barcelona and their Derby rivals Atletico Madrid, they are suffering a lack of possesion, in the last 4 games, they have scored in the last minute of the game, to win the game, the opposition are controlling them and dominating them on the field. Today October 5th 2013, Real Madrid won against (Levante who lost against Barca 7-0) with a score of 3-2, in the 88th minute of the game they were losing 2-1 and Real Madrid reacted quickly and scored 2 goals one came in the 90th minute and the other came in the 90+3 stoppage time. Currently Real Madrids top scorer is Cristiano Ronaldo without doubt who scored the last goal to win the game totaling to 214 goals in 209 games.


Here are the highlights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqMFAP1uC4Y



The information was gathered from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Madrid_C.F.