The Barcelona side which will face Real Madrid on Saturday was assembled for less than Real Madrid paid for Cristiano Ronaldo alone. Given the amount Real Madrid has spent on new players over the last two seasons, it's unsurprising that los Galacticos' collective transfer fee dwarfs that of Barcelona - even with Kaka (ã56 million) likely to start on the bench. The mismatch is so great that the entire Barcelona first eleven cost ââ¬85m - less than what Real Madrid paid to buy Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United. Ronaldo is one of a wave of new arrivals. Half of Real's current side has arrived in the last two seasons, and only Iker Casillas - who accounts for almost half the current first eleven's appearances for Madrid - began his career at the Bernebeu. By contrast, eight of Barcelona's current starting came through the ranks at La Masia, the club's training centre. The unerring quality of Barca's passing is a testament to individual talent, to the club's philosophy, but perhaps above all to the thousands of hours these players have spent on the training ground together. That chemistry will mean Real Madrid cannot compete on their opponents' terms. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...XI-costs-less-than-one-Cristiano-Ronaldo.html Interesting stuff...
they will compete again, might take a while, but lets not forget they are the bigger side and madrid will rise again.
the "bigger" side! They haven't been really "big" in the sense of worthy of admiration since the mid- nineties. A bunch of thugs.
Despite making a world record £80 million move to Real Madrid last 2 years, Cristiano Ronaldo has said he envisages himself returning to play for Manchester United again in the future and Sir Alex Ferguson says he would not pay £60 million for any player except Cristiano Ronaldo. http://www.vidjin.com/cristianoronaldo/