It's prime time we talked

If there is one team in Spain, if not the world, that should be playing at prime time, it is Real Madrid. Guaranteed to pull in the viewers, guaranteed to have the companies fighting over advertising space, the Blancos, along with Barcelona, are the best that Spain have to offer the broadcasters. Needless to say, that last statement by no means aims to draw parallels between the way the two play football. 

But here's a question - when exactly is prime time? Spain being Spain means the powers that be believe that 10pm is not just a reasonable time to start a football match, but the time to start a football match.  Whether its a poxy Copa del King game on a cold January Wednesday night or a sweaty and feisty May derby in Seville, TVE and La Sexta can be seen winding down after the 90 minutes well after midnight. 

It is a choice that never fails to perplex this blogger. It's too late for kids. It interrupts both dinner and going out at the weekend. It is too bloody late. Anyone who has suggested catching the second half of Valencia-Athletic to their partner at 23.04 on Saturday knows how ridiculous it is.

You can go the other way, of course. The 5 o'clock kick off just doesn't convince, certainly at the Bernabéu. It lacks the drama of a night-time kick off. You get annoyed at those idiots with the sirens because you can see their face. The stadium looks like a concrete mistake rather than a coliseum. There's no time to get excited about the game because the paella has barely gone down and the pacharan is still whirling about your head.

Let's face it, the 7 pm kick off is prime time.

That only holds in Spain, however, which is something that Florentino is only too aware of. Mr. Perez is unhappy that a mere 800 million watch Real Madrid play at the weekend. He wants more! According to AS, Madrid are going to propose playing at 3 pm. If that doesn't have the LFP spluttering over their cortados then nothing will. Quite what the unions and madres across the country will have to say about a football game being played during lunch time is also something that the club will have to contend with. 

But who cares, right?

According to 'sources' at the club, a move to playing at 3 pm could increase the potential number of viewers to 1,800 million in Asia. As the Madrid daily points out, it would see Spain follow the example of the Premiership (even if it seems that hardly any games are played at 3pm in England anymore).

Florentino no doubt has a plan up his sleeve that he'll miraculously produce to get his way. If it's anything like a 'discussion' with your other half about whether you're allowed to watch football until midnight at the weekend, however, this issue will take some time to sort out. 

Dubliners

So it's finally started. We're told there was more security for Real Madrid in Ireland than when the Pope visited. The bandwagon of the Second Coming really is up and running. Here are a few need-to-know stats about Real Madrid in Ireland

0- chance of locals catching a glimpse of the squad if they try to get near the hotel (according to the hotel manager)

0 - number of training sessions local fans will be able to see in person

1 - Dutch player to have jumped ship before kicking a ball (Huntelaar)

3 - training sessions per day that The Engineer is planning

9 -  days Real Madrid will be in Dublin

15 - temperature in Ireland

35 - temperature in Madrid

35 - kitmen, physios, security guards, well wishers, shoe cleaners, ball boys, and a coaching staff who make up the rest of the entourage

65 - cheapest double room at Carlton House Hotel, where Madrid are based (pounds)

250 - euros spent on two tickets to see Real Madrid's friendly agaisnt Shamrock Rovers

3,500 - capacity at Tallaght Stadium, where CR9 will make his debut as the World's Most Expensive footballer

6,700 - increased capacity for said match/show

24,000,000 - euro offer for Liverpool's Xabi Alonso

27,000,000 - euros paid for Huntelaar, who is now leaving, six months ago

Striking the right balance

First things first. How the hell do you pronounce Benzema? Where does the stress go? The Spanish are putting it on the last 'a', making it a BenzemAAAAAAAAAAAAA. The English are sticking with a low key 'Ben-zem-a'. Unfortunately TRL doesn't have any French buddies on hand to consult how our gallic neighbours pronounce it. Never mind. It was just a thought.

We wouldn't put it past Florentino having consulted the Algerians on the issue, however. It all clicks into place. Mr. President took approximately 14.3 seconds to compare the signing of Karem Benzema to Zinedine Zidane - they did sign for the club on the same date after all! And they're French! And their families hail from Algeria! And they're talented! Brilliant!

The marketing aspect of Marca's best value 'money-for-quality-signing' stumbled no sooner had Benzema turned his back to the cameras. He may not be the most extrovert and confident of young men, although the "1,2,3, Hala Madrid!" belied any stage fright he may have felt upon his first appearance at the Bernabeu. Rather, the issue is the shirt number. "I like the number 10, but I'll have to wait and see," he confessed at the press conference. Wes may have a thing or two to say about that, although Valdano seems willing to offload Sneijder to make some pocket money, so perhaps he won't. 

So Karem always dreamed of playing for Real Madrid, his idol was Fat Ronaldo, he's happy to kiss the badge, he's young and is a goal scoring machine. Muy bien. 

On the first day of the pre-season, however, appeared the first slight hitch. Not for Benzema, although the thought may have popped into his head too when he saw 5 other strikers trying to latch onto the crosses, but rather for the man in charge. Manuel Pellegrini and his staff will have noticed one major problem. The squad size.

Benzema rocked up at Valdebebas for Day 1 along with new faces CR9, Ezequiel Garay and paperweight Alvaro Negredo, plus 21 other first teamers. Iker, Sergio Ramos, Albiol and Ricky are still on holiday. We make it 29. Plus two more new faces (that left back and midfielder) makes it a six player overfill for the official 25-man squad. 

That is Pellegrini's problem. And Valdano's. As for Benzema, he just has the small task of adapting to a new league, a new country, huge expectation and fighting off the challenge for a place in the first team, plus the evil stares of messrs Raúl, Higuaín, Negredo, Huntelaar and Van Nistelrooy. Welcome to Madrid, Karem.

The Real Liga has also entered the brave new world of Twitter - catch updates, musings, rants, links to new posts here 

Showtime

There is always something of a discrepancy over the exact number of people present whenever a multitudinous meeting is organised in favour, or in protest of rigged elections, wars, testing cosmetics on animals or indeed a football club unveiling a new player. You usually have the organisers bumping up their figures to make it sound like a success, you usually then have the police coming in with their considerably less impressive version. The truth is usually somewhere in between.

And so it was with the presentation of CR9. The paper that can more or less consider itself the official organiser of the party - Marca - claimed there were 90,000 present to witness Cristiano's first steps in the white jersey, while the police of the Spanish sports press - El Pais - put it at 75,000. 

However many people were at the Bernabeu, it was an awesome sight. We all know full well what to expect from The Second Coming - a show. There doesn't even need to be any football being played at Chamartin, Florentino still knows how to fill the stadium. 

One thing was never in any doubt about the unveiling of the new number 9 - the widespread use of hyperbole. Rather than pointing out CR9 has in fact inherited Javier Saviola's squad number, we have been reminded that it was also Alfredo Di Stefano's number. While nitpicking over the exact number of fans present, one thing was true - it was the largest ever turn out for an official presentation of a footballer. It eclipsed even Maradona's unveiling at Napoli.

It also felt like an appropriate juncture for The Real Liga to return to action given the scale of what just happened. Complications to an injury to the second digit of our one and only typing finger extended the traumatic layoff. Apologies.

We all know whats happened since Florentino was unveiled just over a month ago and since the last post - the Evangelists of Madrid have been believing there really is a God out there after hearing the news that Ricky Kaka will be forming part of the congregation, Kaka's dad also thanked a few superior beings for his share of the world transfer fee, and then  CRnow9 signed an even bigger deal before going off on holiday to explore the nooks and crannies of Paris. Raul Albiol snuck onto the wage bill and wiped a reported 0.025% off Valencia's debt with his 15 million euro move, and finally Karem Benzema continued the long line of talented players to leave Lyon over the past few years for an astronomical, yet almost justifiable fee. Any further discussion of the price of these four players would simply be extending one of the most tedious arguments around this summer. Yes they were all expensive, but you can't argue with a single of them so far for bringing in quality to the squad. 

So far so good, just the thorny issue of sorting out the squad getting in the way. Manuel Pellegrini got to work yesterday and will perhaps consult Kaka for advice over where to find some inspiration to sort out the mess left by the previous administration. But of course nobody's thinking about that for now. That's far too much like taking care of business. For now its all about selling those shirts.

Moving on

Osasuana 2-1 Real Madrid

What a difference a year makes. Last year, Higuaín's goal in Pamplona provoked the title celebrations at Cibeles. This year the capital's fertility goddess had to suffer the indignity of hosting the Culés party. Two weeks ago at that. Higuaín's goal in Pamplona at the weekend could have been the sweetening end to a bitterly poor season, but the Argentines well-taken goal was nothing more than a chimera. The Navarrans turned the game around and saved their Primera Liga skins. Madrid ended the season with their fifth consecutive defeat, conceding 17 goals on the way.

Sunday's game is old news, however. Florentino was presented as the new Real Madrid president this morning, 13 days ahead of schedule. The elections were set for the 14th of June, but with nobody able to muster the 57 million euros necessary, or organize a press conference that didn't involve racially abusing the President of the United States of America, Florentino breezed through the doors at the Bernabéu without a whisper of competition.

The Real Liga is decidedly undecided on what to make of all this. Let's not forget that the final scene of Florentino's previous presidency included Sergio Ramos complaining that Michel Salgado and company were busier seeing to their personal manicure than celebrating the defender's goal against Mallorca. A few months later, Florentino was booed, whistled and verbally abused when he went to vote in the club elections. 

He is back, however, with a suitably gigantic and grandiose project, along with the necessary airy fairy discourse about values and caballerosidad. So far there have been no presentations of players or a coach, although Pellegrini is to be unveiled tomorrow on a two year deal. More on that tomorrow.

For now, Florentino has surrounded himself with people to tell him what to do. Valdano is basically in charge, Miguel Pardeza - from the quinta del buitre - is the sporting director, while Zidane is returning to the club as the 'President's advisor'. But Florentino isn't a man who likes being told what to do. He is also a man who is sure he is doing the right thing. He has often been proved right. He has also been proved wrong. 

Whoever joins the club over the coming weeks - Kaká, Cesc, Villa, Silva, Xabi Alonso etc. - and whatever happens over the coming months - league and Champions League double, or utter failure - the club is starting a new phase in its history and is moving on. We'll drink to that. 

The illusion

A number of years ago, in a pre-internet / pre-Spanish learning / pre-English teaching / pre-Madrid-living incarnation, The Real Liga watched Manchester United draw 3-3 with Barcelona at Old Trafford on TV. It was that moment, sat at home admiring the football, that for the first time in its life time team colours could be ignored, and that this blogger could take pleasure from watching teams it despised if they played good football. We're talking about Man U here.

Skip forward a few years to last night and much the same happened. The mancs use to have exclusivity on the feelings of loathing that they produced in the mind of this blogger, but that has since been transferred to Barcelona CF. Last night, however, it was impossible not to take off the sombrero and applaud the Catalans. Thank god there are no more cups for them to win this season. They have been simply remarkable this year. We could go on, but enough column inches have been filled by more insightful, witty, eulogistic prose than this blog is capable of. 

The sign of what is to come, however, is not the Madrid press dedicating pages and pages to events in Catalunya, however, but rather Florentino brilliantly undermining Barcelona's victory parade by scheduling the presentation of his presidency candidate for the very same day. You have to hand it to him - he knows how to play the game.

Today's announcement produced that word - for now we were given just the names of his fellow money makers on the board and there's still no sign of Valdano or Zidane. The motif of Florentino's presidency will be the same as the one he used last time he was in charge - ilusión.

Ilusión is one of those annoying words that language teachers annoyingly like to call false friends. Ilusión doesn't mean illusion, or misperception, or deception, but rather hope and excitement.

Whether Florentino's second stint as president is an illusion or ilusión remains to be seen. One thing that seems certain is that the project is taking shape. So much so that if El Larguero is to be believed, by Friday the club will have the marquee signing and a coach. On Monday Florentino takes over, on Tuesday Manuel Pellegrini will be installed as the new coach and on Thursday Ricky Kaká will be presented as the first new galáctico. We'll discuss both issues more if and when they really happen.

Whatever happens over the next couple of weeks, we now know full well what we are up against, and so does Florentino. Last night was a lesson in how to play football. But the question remains what is the real illusion going to be? Can Barcelona really dominate European football for the next four years, or is Florentino really going to save Real Madrid?

Let it end

Real Madrid 1-3 Mallorca

As Juanma Trueba put it in AS, Juande is responsible both for the stunningly brilliant run of 17 wins in 18 games, as much as he is responsible for the stunningly awful four consecutive defeats. Losing to Osasuna next weekend (the Navarrans need to win to stay up) will equal the unequabale string of five defeats that Carlos Queiroz orchestrated a few years back.

Everyone has given up. The Bernabéu has half empty (definitely not half full) to see the final home game of the season. The only player to emerge with any credit from this season took his haul to 21 goals before the rest of the side lay down and let Mallorca put three past them. 

Okay, so one of the goals was a freak of nature - Kleber's goal - but still. Mallorca!

The elections are already taking its toll. The rumblings of court appearances, along with presidential candidates who present their project, say that Obama started supporting Real Madrid when the club played, yes, in black, and are then forced to withdraw his candidacy are hardly helping. 

Cannavaro said goodbye to the Bernabeu. There is one week of 'football' to go. There are three before the elections happen. Let it end, and lets get on with next season. Gracias.

Transfer news update: 

CR7- Público say Florentino will announce him on Thursday, the News of the World quote him saying he'll stay at Man U

Ribery - Zidane prefers him to CR7

Van Nistelrooy - Galatasary have made an offer

David Silva - virtually guaranteed he'll swap the white of Valencia, for the er, white of Real Madrid