Following Real Madrid’s 3-2 defeat to Villareal last night, Barcelona are now champions of Spain for the ‘08/’09 season. It was Real Madrid’s 3rd defeat in as many weeks, and it appeared as if most of the players had decided to concentrate on their summer holidays rather than try and make it difficult for Barcelona to claim the title.
Villareal got off to a great start, pressing forward determined to test the Madrid defence and after 17 minutes were ahead thanks to a header from Robert Pires. The home side dominated the first half but after the break, Gonzalo Higuain was brought on for Madrid, and made an immediate impact picking out Van der Vaart who equalized for the visitors. Villareal restored their lead after 60 minutes when Cani fired past Iker Casillas, but Gonzalo Higuain (easily Real’s best player on the pitch) made it 2-2 with only two minutes to go. But a mistake by Iker Casillas in injury time allowed Capdevila to make it 3-2 for Villareal on the night, keeping alive their hope of playing Champions League football next season. Overall, it was another poor display for Real Madrid, who have now conceded the title to arch-rivals Barcelona.
After Florentino Perez’s announcement to run for President of Real Madrid, it now seems certain there will be massive changes at the Bernabeu over the summer months. Juande Ramos is highly unlikely to continue as Real Madrid coach, despite his earlier good work with the team. There are a number of contenders to take over the Real Madrid hot-seat incl. Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Ancelotti and Manuel Pellegrini. Carlos Ancelotti has been targeted by Chelsea in recent months and it seems likely he’ll take over from Gus Hiddink, ruling him out for the job. Arsene Wenger is the man wanted by Perez, but he will have a lot of convincing to do to tempt the Frenchman away from the Emirates. A major stumbling block for Wenger but his lack of control in the transfer market, as Perez would appoint sporting directors (Zidane being one of them) to direct transfer deals. But it has been reported recently that Wenger may be coming dismayed with a lack of funds to spend on players at Arsenal, and has admitted that Perez’s project will be “interesting”.
There will be a major shake-up of the Real Madrid squad over the next few months. Perez is thought to want to sell most of the Dutch contingent at the club incl. Ruud Van Nistelroy, Sneijder, Van der Vaart, Drenthe and Robben to raise finances for other players. Cannavaro had apparently signed a deal with Juventus for next season; and other players likely to move on include Gago, Heinze, and Marcelo.
Many big name signings have been linked with Real Madrid over the past few days including Ronaldo, Ribery, and Kaka amongst others. It was reported in the Spanish media Perez had already agreed a €63 million deal to bring Kaka to the Bernabeu, with the player reportedly earning €8 million net per season. Christiano Ronaldo has repeatedly been linked with a move to Madrid, with a “secret agreement” between club and player already in place.
Perez has reportedly decided to spend €200 million on new players over the summer, so a return to the Galáctico era is certainly on the cards for Real Madrid.
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