La Liga Special Feature – Is change always for good?
There was an unseen logic in Barcelona’s refusal to accept Robinho’s more than willing signature. Many people saw it as Pep Guardiola’s lack of trust in the Brazilian’s ability but it was more than that. It was about consistency. Barcelona won the Spanish League last season, regardless of the fact that Messi ended up with more than 40 goals in all competitions, the most impressive thing about their second league triumph in a row was that it was a total team effort.
The Catalan Giants benefitted from the squad contributions, which came from the likes of Pedro, Keita, Yaya Toure and Bojan. Out of the above listed four players, two have graduated through Barcelona’s youth academy, a school of football excellence which has already bred players such as Xavi, Fabregas, Puyol and Busquets.
Guardiola’s statement that Robinho has no place at Barcelona was also a condemnation of his play-boy attitude when it came to football. The little Brazilian has been known to act a bit up tight. This not only came to the forefront of things at Manchester City after he had a bust up with Mark Hughes but also at Real Madrid, where Robinho was a constant nuisance for Madrid’s plethora of egos.
In the summer transfer window, Barcelona have only made three signings so far; Adriano from Sevilla to give them some options at the back as well as on the left wing, Mascherano from Liverpool to add some fortification to their creative midfield, and David Villa from Valencia to replace the departing Thierry Henry.
In 2009, when Florentino Perez was crowned as Madrid’s club president, he again embarked upon a journey to reform the Galacticos image that won Real Madrid two Champions League titles in five years at the end of the 1990’s and the start of the 2000’s. Robben, Sneijder and Ruud Van Nistelrooy were sold by the Spanish giants, and in his first transfer window as the president Perez brought in Kaka from Milan, Benzema from Lyon and Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United.
Two of these blockbuster signings were disappointing flops during the 2009-2010 La Liga season. In the latest summer transfer window, Madrid again bought heavily. Angel Di Maria has arrived at Santiago Bernabeau from Benfica, Mesut Ozil from Werder Bremen, Sami Khedira from Stuttgart and Pedro Leon from Getafe.
In the first match of the season, Barcelona started with an emphatic home win against Racing Santander, whereas the circus of egos at Real Madrid could only fare to manage to a draw against Mallorca in their first proper La Liga outing of the season. Five of the fourteen players, who featured for Real Madrid on the night, were making their debuts for Los Blancos in the Spanish League. If such is the case then how can one expect Madrid to compete with Barcelona for the title?
Perez has failed to understand the fact that money can buy top players in the world and the best manager in the world too but the reality still remains that team chemistry and spirit is not sold at Tesco or Wall mart or Manchester United or the Bundesliga. Madrid parted ways with Pelligrini at the end of the last season’s Spanish league campaign just to make way for Mourinho. An appointment that was not necessarily needed as Pelligrini was himself laying the foundations needed to base any successful team upon.
However, the Real Madrid administrative hierarchy acted in haste and thought otherwise. After his first league match of the season ended in a draw, Mourinho whined that there is not enough time to work around with the team and the season had started too early for Madrid and that is why Real ran the risk of dropping points. Something that the former Chelsea manager should have thought before taking on the task of guiding Madrid to their first triumph in the Spanish League in three years.
Madrid should learn for their own sake and the sake of all the young players whose careers are under nourishment at Real, that change is not always good. Even when it is done for the better, sometimes things take time to settle in. Something’s are not for sale Mr. Perez and one of them is success.
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