Real Madrid’s Galacticos failed to impress the world. The fans of the Los Blancos were happy with the team squad, but they could not do anything. Los Blancos won three Champions League seasons with Raul, Redondo, Mijatovic and Morientes. They could not do anything with Figo, Beckham, Zidane and Ronaldo. Many experts have tried to explain the failure, but there are too many. We will try to break down the main reasons why Real Madrid’s Galacticos failed to impress the world.
Who played for the Galacticos?
Many people heard about the Galacticos but they don’t know the real names behind the legendary squad. When we say “Galacticos”, never refer to the squad of the team that won many Champions League in five seasons. Real Madrid’s Galacticos took the shape from the season 2003.
Luis Figo – Real Madrid signed the player in 2001 from Barcelona. It was the biggest betrayal in the history of La Liga. Barca’s fans have not approved this transfer until these days. They are still against Figo’s presence in Catalonia.
Zinedine Zidane – Real Madrid signed legendary French player from Juventus. He played at the highest level and then finished his career in Los Blancos. Zidane finished their career in the summer of 2005.
Ronaldo – Brazilian striker was on top of the world when signed for Real Madrid. He was impressing fans with the dribbles and many goals. At the same time, he could not score as many goals as the next generational “Ronaldo”.
David Beckham – He was signed from Manchester United in the summer of 2003. Real Madrid decided to choose David Beckham instead of Ronaldinho. They thought that David’s beautiful face would be better for the Galacticos than Ronaldinho.
Main reasons for the failure
Real Madrid was full of the big names at every possible spot in the midfield or attacking line. Ronaldo and Raul were the main attacking line players and everyone was afraid of their skills. Zidane, Figo and Beckham played in the midfield and they were doing everything possible to score many goals. Los Blancos was scoring goals but they could not defend. Florentino Perez let Makelele leave the team and everything broke down. He was the main man behind the defensive midfield, so he was everywhere to prevent the attacking lines of the opponent. Without Makelele, Real Madrid could not do anything. Just like Casemiro is doing at a current Los Blancos, Makelele was impossible to replace. That’s why Real Madrid suffered a big setback. At the same time, the central defensive line was one of the worst in history. There were playing names like Raul Bravo, Pavon and etc. We know that these names do not bring anything to the table, so opponents knew that the defensive line of the team was very weak. No big team can win the Champions League or the domestic trophy without a good defensive line.
Replacing Ronaldinho
As we mentioned above, Real Madrid’s management decided to sign David Beckham instead of Ronaldinho. Yes, it could be a regular management decision but then newspapers wrote a real reason. They said that Real Madrid turned down Ronaldinho because he was not good looking. That was a big problem for Los Blancos as Ronaldinho signed for the main rival and tore apart whole Madrid for the next few seasons.