More Than A Team – Los Galacticos Originales

NOTE FROM ADAM: This is a guest post written by Daniel Mason who blogs at Bagsy Not In. The views expressed in the article are his and not mine. ———————- Enter Daniel: As Real Madrid and Florentino Perez begin to build what they hope will be a new era of “Galacticos” under the management of José Mourinho, [...]

I am joining RealmadridTV

Discussing all things Real Madrid on RealmadridTV’s ExtraTime. Alright, it is about time that I wrote this post. I know that most of you have been wondering why I haven’t been blogging as usual during the past few months and although what I am going to announce next has nothing to do with my lack of [...]

Realmadrid News: Real 5-1 Bilbao; Mourinho, Zidane, Benzema & MyMadrid app

Posted by adam on December 4th, 2010

Ronaldo

I can score hatricks too. From headers, free-kicks, penalties, outside the box..etc you name it.

Uno: Real smashed Athletic Bilbao 5-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu. I watched the game live in the stadium from the press box and It was freezing even after the heating came on. I couldn’t type on my Macbook at some point which made it difficult to do my work, but it was worth it as the game was really entertaining. According to Karanka, and I agree with him, Bilbao were the strongest side we’ve faced at the Bernabeu so far (in addition to Atletico Madrid).

Bernabeu

I was at the Bernabeu before anyone else! At 8pm :)

Andy May & Sid Lowe

Sat next to friends — RealmadridTV’s Andy May and Guardian UK’s Sid Lowe who were commentating on the game.

Heating

The heating came on after the game kicked-off, but it was still freezing! brr…

Dos: Barcelona destroyed Almeria 8-0 earlier that night with a Messi hatrick, but Cristiano Ronaldo responded back with another hatrick to help him top EL Pichichi table again. Everyone, including Mourinho, was surprised when Sergio Ramos took the first penalty as Ronaldo or Xabi Alonso are normaly the penalty takers, but Ramos asked Ronaldo If he could take it as he wanted to score so badly after being unlucky in front of goal. Ronaldo agreed and Ramos scored his first goal this season. It was also the first goal scored by a Spanish Real Madrid player in the league (Esteban Granero, Pedro Leon, and Alonso did score before but in Copa Del Rey and the Champions League).

Tres: Mourinho watched the first eight minutes of the game in the Palco de Honor but then sat in the stands in the seat nearest to the bench (that I already mentioned here) so the ban was pretty pointless as he was able to talk with Karanka and everyone else on the team. Heck, he even talked to Dr. Hernández to ask about Khedira’s injury (who by the way, in addition to Higuain, will miss the Ajax clash due to injury).

Mourinho

Mourinho sat in the first row just 3 meters away from the bench!

Mourinho

Mourinho communicating with Karanka

Cuatro: My friend and colleague Kay Murray flew to London yesterday morning as she was supposed to interview Mourinho who was attending The League Managers Association Hall of Fame dinner as Guest of Honnor. Attended the event also Fabio Capello and Sir Alex Ferguson among other coaches in England who were all full of praise for “The Special One“. When Mourinho was asked to come on the stage, the event’s host announced “Let Harry Potter take the stage, the magician who turns everything he touches to a championship title“. Jose insisted many times he is not Harry Potter, and he is not a magician, but he indeed, and numbers back it up all, turns “every team” he manages into a championship winning team ;)

Mourinho

Mourinho

Cinco: Zidane gave his first interview as the club’s presidential advisor and said he is excited about this new position. His role hasn’t been totally defined, but he will be at Valdebabes (training grounds) everyday, he will travel with the team to Champions League matches (I hope I will board the same plane with him in the future!), serve as a connection between the president and the squad and work closely with the players.

Zidane

Seis: We had the chance to sit down and talk to Mourinho about Zidane. The manager said that the decision (of hiring Zizo) was made by everyone; himself, the president, the club and said he was sure the fans wouldn’t mind. He had nothing but praise for the Real Madrid legend and said that him working closely with the players will be very beneficial for the team (Mourinho gave a similar role to another former Real Madrid player and Zidane teammate, Figo at Inter).

Mourinho

Siete: As I said earlier, both of Higuain and Khedira will miss the Ajax clash but they should be fit for the Clasico. I don’t think Gonzalo’s injury is serious. In fact, I think he is able to play against Ajax, but he was rested in order to be 100% against Barcelona as he has started in all league and Champions League games this seasons.

Ocho: The spot light will be on Karim Benzema who will start on Tuesday night against Ajax. It’s a very good opportunity for Karim to continue his fine form. He has been a very influential sub in recent weeks, coming on to assist and help the team win in difficult moments (against Milan, Hercules, Gijon..etc) and Mourinho insisted that the Frenchman has nothing to prove; he has been working hard and doing what Jose told him to do, and the results speak for themselves. Karim’s form has improved gradually and all he needs is regular playing time and goals who will come soon.

Nueve: We’ve launched a new version of our MyMadrid app (for iPhone, iPod and iPad). It includes a ton of improvements and new features but the most important is the ability to watch RealmadridTV 24/7 on your iOS device. Yep, that’s right! And it doesn’t cost much! 3 euros for a month, 8 euros for three months or 12 euros for a year! How cheap is that!? Go check it out. Also check out our Fantasy Manager Game. If you have any suggestions or to report any bugs in both apps, please shoot an email to adam (at) adambader.com

HALA MADRID!

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Real Madrid News Round-Up; Real vs Bilbao, Maradona, Mourinho & Casillas

Posted by adam on December 4th, 2010

Higuain against Bilbao

In an effort to keep the blog up-to-date, I am trying a new type of posts; a news round up. I hope I can write a new one everyday.

Let me know what you think, here we go!

Uno: Real Madrid clash with Athletic Bilbao tomorrow night at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium (22:00 CET) in what is expected to be a thrilling match. Bilbao has always been hard to beat, especially in their own stadium, but the Bernabeu faithful has proved to be a great support for the team (just as we saw against Murcia) so It will be difficult for Bilbao to win at the Bernabeu. Jose Mourinho’s team is still unbeaten in the league this season, and has been unbeaten at the Bernabeu since their last season’s 0-1 defeat to Barcelona (If I’m not mistaken).

Dos: Jose Mourinho won’t be on the bench for tomorrow night’s game as he is serving his two match ban after getting sent off against Real Murcia in Copa Del Rey as he told the referee, who wasn’t having a good day, some nice words… and he won’t be in the VIP area or palco de honor either, he will be in the first row in the seat nearest to the bench so he can communicate with assistant coach Karanka and fitness coach Rui Faria. Sitting next to him will be Julio Cendal, Director of Security at the club as well as two body guards to protect him from fans asking for autographs and photos. The two seats belong to socio members Gabriel Ruiz Almansa & Ramona Garza (a husband and his wife as I understand). Gabriele told AS it’s an honor for them to give the seats to Mourinho, and they are ready to help the team in any way possible. In case you are wondering, they will be sitting near the palco which isn’t really bad ;)

Tres: The man who I think was the greatest footballer on earth, Diego Armando Maradona, paid the team a visit today at Valdebabes as he spent sometime talking to the coach Mourinho (they are good friends, the later reportedly helped Diego with tactics to coach Argentina during the World Cup) as well as Ronaldo, Pipita, Di Maria, Garay, Casillas and Ramos. He said he believes Mourinho will bring the Champions League to the Bernabeu in no time….. I really hope so!

Cuatro: Ronaldo is fine and was called up for the Bilbao game. Also, Jersey Dudek has recovered from injury and is in the squad list. However, there is still no Kaka, Garay or Gago (all sidelined), while Mateos and Canales weren’t called up as well. And no, Canales is not being punished.

Cinco: If Real defeat Bilbao tomorrow night, they will be the first team in the history of La Liga to collect 32 points by Week 12. Solid, baby! The current record holders are Barcelona and Atletico Madrid who took 30 points by Week 12 in the 1995/96 & 2009/10 seasons respectively.

Seis: Also, a victory for Real over Bilbao would be Casillas’ 250th win with the team! He currently stands as the sixth Real Madrid player in history to win the most games for the Club with 249 victories in total. He is just two wins shy from Fernando Hierro’s mark (251), who played 43 games more than the keeper (439). Iker has also the team’s second best winning percentage record (0.62%) after Paco Gento (0.66%).

Siete: Marcelo talked to club’s sponsor Bwin about the game. Check out the interview below:

View on YouTube

Ocho: I will be watching the game at the Bernabeu from the press box. I will not, however, be able to attend Karanka’s post-match press conference or be in the mixed zone (where the players will talk to the media), as I will have to run quickly to RealmadridTV studios (with Andy May) to make the match report. I will do my best to provide you with any interesting information during or after the game on Twitter, I will also try to keep writing news round-ups everyday. I’d appreciate If you gave me your feedback, a good idea or not?

Hala Madrid!


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Real Madrid Q&A with Adam Bader: Benzema, Kakà & Zidane.

Posted by adam on December 4th, 2010

Karim Benzema

Another edition of the Real Madrid Q&A series on RealmadridTalk. Readers basically ask me questions and I answer them all in one post and open the discussion for everyone. A lot of people send me questions onTwitter and Facebook, but I thought instead of answering them privately and only on these respective sites, I’d instead answer them on the blog.

If you have a question, please email it to rajab (@) oleole.com, send it to me on Twitter orFacebook or just leave it in the comment section and I’ll answer it in next week’s edition. Please remember I can’t discuss transfer rumors.

Alonso Jose A: When is Benzema gonna start scoring goals? Why doesn’t the media lay off the kid? What is the game plan when we face AC Milan ?

Adam: Benzema will start scoring goals when he stops feeling stressed, pressured and most importantly when he plays more often. I think the reason Benzema hasn’t been as good as he was with Lyon is the fact that he signed for Real during a “re-construction” period with news players, and a new coach and a team that is trying to gel together. Also, he moved to a new league, a new culture and a new country. It’s not easy to adapt quickly. Additionally, Ronaldo and Higuaìn have been in great form and there is no coach who would drop those two and start Benzema instead.

I have a lot of faith in Benzema and I know that Mourinho does as well. All he needs is more playing time (which he is getting slowly), If he just stops focusing on scoring goals whenever he plays, and stops feeling the pressure he will feel regain his form quickly.

As for the game against AC Milan, I think Mourinho will play as he did in the first leg.

Christopher Roy Turner: Will Kakà be back?

Adam: There is nothing official yet, but Kakà could be back by the end of next month. He has made a great progress so far.

Philip Bianco: Any news about Zidane becoming Mourinho’s assistant?

Adam: José wants Zidane to work with him instead of working with Perez and that wish might come true soon. It’s still unclear what Zidane’s job will be, but he will work closely with the players. There is nothing official yet though, but I personally hope that this happens as Zidane could help us a lot.

Raphael Harry: What’s your opinion on Benzema right now? Do you think Mourinho should start Mateos and Juanan along with Adan against Murchison?

Adam: Regarding Benzema, check out the answer to the first question. As for your second question, no, I think Mourinho would better start players like Benzema, Granero & Lass, but If I were him, I wouldn’t drop Özil, Di María and Alonso because they have proved to be very crucial.

Justin: What do you think went wrong in the game against Real Murcia?

Adam: I think we didn’t play as well as we did in the last few games for two reasons:

  1. We were not creative enough. We clearly missed Alonso and Özil. I think they irreplaceable.
  2. Murcia parked the bus and their goalkeeper gave an outstanding performance.

Carla: Why do you think we didn’t beat Murcia in the Copa del Rey?

Adam: I’ve answered this above :-)

Gina Herden: What do you think was the reasoning behind the line up for Real Murcia game ? I didn’t think it was effective.

Adam: José wanted to rest some of his key players like Özil, Carvalho and Alonso as well as give some of his bench players playing time. I think it wasn’t a bad lineup, but it was clear that we missed the creativity that Alonso and Özil bring to the team. Additionally, Dani Hernández, Murcia’s goalkeeper, was having a great night!

Deisi Barboza: Do you think Higuaìn should have on the list for Ballon d’or?

Adam: As much as I think Higuaìn is a great player, I don’t think he should be nominated for the Ballon d’Or. The players who have been nominated deserve it more.

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More Than A Team – Los Galacticos Originales

Posted by adam on December 4th, 2010

NOTE FROM ADAM: This is a guest post written by Daniel Mason who blogs at Bagsy Not In. The views expressed in the article are his and not mine.

———————-

Enter Daniel:

As Real Madrid and Florentino Perez begin to build what they hope will be a new era of “Galacticos” under the management of José Mourinho, they will no doubt be hoping to add their 10th European Cup and more to the highly prestigious list of honours. However, and no matter what, it will be extraordinarily difficult to match the original era of Galacticos, a side that is still the most successful in the history of football.

This hugely impressive side of Madrid was started to be built in 1945, when former captain Santiago Bernabéu Yeste took over the club as president. Bernabéu was a very successful striker for Madrid, scoring more than 200 goals for the club, before working with the club as a director, assistant, and full manager of the club. But then came the Civil War, and things would have to change.

Following the Spanish Civil War, Bernabéu returned to the club he loved to find it in a somewhat “dead” state, with many officials either dead or missing, as well as several missing trophies. Real also had to compete with the more accomplished and recognisable Athlético Aviación (now Atlético Madrid), and had no government aid in rebuilding, leaving Bernabéu left to attempt to rebuild the club as manager, finding some old players and officials to give assistance. In 1943 fan violence in an “El Classico” both clubs were ordered to find new presidents by the government, leaving Santiago to take over the reigns at Real.

Bernabéu was then in charge of a complete restructuring of the club at all levels, even making the largest stadium in Europe at the time, it was even stated “so large a stadium for so little a club”, as well as building the club it’s first training ground the Ciudad Deportiva to protect the pitch, once this was done the real big work began in 1953, when the Galacticos started to appear. These Galacticos contained the likes of Alfredo Di Stefano, Luis Molowny, Miguel Muñoz, Francisco Gento & Vicente Del Bosque, among many others.

In 1953 the board decided to bring in Uruguayan manager Enrique Fernandez, who proceeded to lead the all-star side to their first La Liga since Robert Firth’s side won the trophy in 1933. This side was able to do such things due to a loophole in foreign players rules, meaning that Madrid had the capability to naturalise players like Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas, thus these players were able to play as locals, rather than being part of the strict 3 foreign players rule, leading them to be able to use more world-stars from abroad.

In 1954 Real made a slow start to the season, leaving Bernabéu making the tough decision that a new manager was needed, and then José Villalonga was hired to bring success as soon as possible. Just months earlier, Bernabéu was negotiating with French magazine L’Equipe about a potential competition to find the best side in Europe. Villalonga did a great job at Real, leading them to win two La Liga’s and the initial two European cups in his 3 year stint, and to this day is still the youngest manager to ever lift the trophy. However, in true Spanish style, he was removed from his role in 1957, to be replaced by Luis Carniglia.

When Luis Carniglia was hired as Real Madrid manager in 1957, he took over a team brimming with talent which was consistently added to during his time there, including the signing of, at the time overweight, unfit Hungarian Ferenc Puskas, on whom Carniglia wasn’t keen. Nevertheless, after forcing the Magyar to lose 15KG before making his debut, at the end of Carniglia’s first season at Real he held a loft La Liga and the European Cup.

In 1958 Real Madrid won the prestigious European cup (this was a different era of Galacticos, contrary to the more recent in Real’s history). Following the horrific incident at Munich airport, in which 8 Manchester United players were among the 23 left dead by the crash of a plane through a fence, before colliding with a local house and being left burning, Real offered the trophy to Manchester United as a memorial to those that lost there lives, an offer which Manchester United refused on the grounds that they had not actually won it, and would feel uneasy claiming a trophy they hadn’t won. An incident which shall forever stand above that Madrid side, showing the humility they possessed.

The following year Real retained both trophies, but Carniglia lost his job as a result of not selecting Ferenc Puskas, who was one of Bernabéu’s ultimate Galacticos. Following Carniglia’s sacking, Real were left searching for a successor, which led them to Paraguayan Manuel Fleitas.

In Fleitas’ time at the club Madrid somewhat regressed, being beaten to La Liga by Barcelona. Nonetheless, during his time at the helm of the club, Real remained in the European Cup. The lack of success brought in this time led to a new manager being appointed. Miguel Muñoz, who was the “B-team” manager at the time, was promoted to the main job in April, following his impressive playing career with the club as a player and captain.

Muñoz took over the side chasing an almost impossible La Liga, and as a result, all attention turned onto the European Cup, with Madrid hoping to make it 4 trophies in a row. Muñoz went about the job very professionally, carrying on some of the training ground exercise’s which had aided him being a top player until the age of 36. He managed, in his first season, to retain the European cup, in a classic encounter with Eintracht Frankfurt which ended 7-3 at Hampden Park. In that game, Di Stefano scored 3 goals, but was still eclipsed by Ferenc Puskas, who, aided by his deadly left foot, scored 4 goals after Frankfurt had taken the lead. This result allowed Real Madrid to keep the original trophy for themselves as 5 times winners.

The following year Real couldn’t make a return to European competition as they no longer held the crown of Spanish champions. However, they managed to regain the crown of Spanish champions to ensure a return to a competition they must have felt was their rightful place. In their absence Barcelona reached the final, only to be defeated by Portuguese champions Benfica.

Real were back challenging on all fronts again in 1962, and once again managed to be competitive on all fronts, retaining La Liga and being defeated 5-3 in another fantastic European cup final by Benfica, with Puskas again scoring a hat trick, making him the first ever player to score two hat-tricks in the European Cup final, a feat that has never been matched.

The following season saw Real under perform hugely in the European cup, being eliminated in the preliminary rounds by Belgian side Anderlecht, 4-3 on aggregate. Nonetheless, this was made up for by the side by continuing their domestic dominance, walking away with La Liga, meaning Muñoz had at least managed to steer his side into the following seasons European Cup, where the Merengues’s were aiming to recapture the glory they had over the course of the late 1950′s. Bernabéu made the bold decision to allow Muñoz to remain in the hot seat for the following season due to his overwhelming crowd-support due to his previous career with the club.

Los Blanco’s entered the next season with even more belief, and they managed to secure another important La Liga trophy, as well as making up for the previous years European disappointment by making it all the way to the final of the competition. Once there, they were defeated by Internazionale in a 3-1 in which Sandro Mazzola stole the plaudits, scoring two of Inter’s 3 goals.

The following season Madrid again walked away with the La Liga trophy. However, they gave another poor show in the European cup, being defeated in the Quarter final by the same Benfica side that was playing in their 4th final in 5 years, a feat only beaten by the initial Madrid side. Surely after all of that time without winning Europe’s big prize the fans and president must have been tired of Muñoz’s “failure”, surely?

Well, as it happens, Madrid kept faith in the still very young Muñoz and gave him another chance as manager, and finished the season with only one trophy again. This time things were a little different. Although Real didn’t manage to secure the Copa Del Rey or the league they finished the season in great style, coming back from behind in the last 20 minutes to defeat Partizan Belgrade 2-1, leaving Real celebrating all over the Heysel Stadium and with their 6th European cup in 10 seasons, a feat that has never, and is unlikely to ever, be repeated. This spell by Muñoz followed by a further 4 La Liga titles, means that he is often seen as the most successful, as well as longest serving, manager in Real’s incredibly illustrious history. He left in 1974 following 3 seasons with a solitary Copa Del Rey to his name.

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I am joining RealmadridTV

Posted by adam on December 4th, 2010

Adam Bader on ExtraTime- RealmadridTV

Discussing all things Real Madrid on RealmadridTV’s ExtraTime.

Alright, it is about time that I wrote this post. I know that most of you have been wondering why I haven’t been blogging as usual during the past few months and although what I am going to announce next has nothing to do with my lack of blogging, it will give you an idea of what I have been working on.

As you already know, I’ve recently moved to Madrid because I was isolated from football action being in North Africa and because I wanted to be close to the club as well as for other reasons that I unfortunately can’t disclose.

However, I’m very happy to announce that I will be trained and will be working with the best in business; friends like Kay Murray, Andy May, Pablo Foley Elias & Martin Egan at RealmadridTV. It has always been a goal for me to work with these professionals at the channel and it has finally been achieved. As you can imagine, I’m very excited and extremely happy about this!

Adam Bader on RealmadridTV

Yesterday was officially my last day as an independent journalist as I start working for the channel today.I had the chance to come on ExtraTime on RealmadridTV (see the photos below) along with Paul Giblin (GolTV) and Maria Bretones (Cadena Ser) as we discussed Real’s season so far, Ronaldo, Alonso, the international fixtures and much more. If you have access to RealmadridTV, make sure to watch the show this week as we had an interesting discussion:)

Adam Bader on ExtraTime

Adam Bader on ExtraTime

You might be wondering what will happen to the blog and the stuff I am doing on Twitter & Facebook. Well, I had already decided that I was leaving OleOle for special reasons so RealmadridTalk will be an independent blog again (at RealmadridTalk.com) and it will basically be my “home”. If you ever thought I was biased, I am going to be even more biased for reasons you obviously understand ;)

The same goes for Twitter & Facebook. I will still be covering the club and I will do my best to keep you up to date, though I might have to stop producing the podcast or let someone take over it.

I know this mind sound silly, but it was emotionally challenging for me to write this post, because first and foremost, the blog will change dramatically (to the better I hope), and because it has become a part of who I am, my identity If you will and the change will effect me as a person. Add to that the fact that I have achieved one of my big goals!

Having said that, the blog’s message and purpose will always stay the same; Giving Madridistas a Voice. And I hope I will be able to continue giving you the opportunity to have that voice.

I really appreciate your continues support (and I also appreciate the hate e-mails because they keep me going and help me become greater) and I also would like to thank you so much for keeping the discussion alive while I was busy with my personal life.

¡Muchas Gracias! y ¡Hala Madrid!

Adam,

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Auxerre & Deportivo Talk| RealmadridTalk Podcast Episode 8

Posted by adam on September 30th, 2010

Andy May & Adam Bader get together again to discuss Real Madrid’s win over Auxerre in the Champions League, rate the performance of the players and look ahead to Real Madrid’s next game in La Liga against Deportivo La Coruña.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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RealmadridTalk Podcast Episode 7 | Champions League Preview

Posted by adam on September 28th, 2010

On the latest episode of the RealmadridTalk Podcast, Andy May & Adam Bader discuss Real Madrid’s draw against Levante in La Liga and look ahead to the Champions League game against Auxerre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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RealmadridTalk Podcast Episode 6

Posted by adam on September 22nd, 2010

In the newest episode of the RealmadridTalk Podcast, Andy May, Adam Bader as well as special Madridista guest Jessica, review Real’s 3-0 win over Espanyol, talk about the Copa Del Rey draw and look ahead to Real’s next away game against Levante on Saturday.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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RealmadridTalk Podcast Episode 5

Posted by adam on September 19th, 2010

In the episode 5 of the RealmadridTalk Podcast, Andy May and Adam Bader talk about Real’s 1-2 win over Real Sociedad, rate the players and look ahead to Real’s next La Liga game against Espanyol at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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RealmadridTalk Podcast Episode 4

Posted by adam on September 13th, 2010

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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