The CL horror series of the 00s: is another nightmare looming?

HistoryWith their 13 European Cup titles, Real Madrid is by far the most successful team on the big European stage, but Los Blancos also experienced times in the premier class when they did not find themselves in the limelight for a long time. One such time was the years from 2005 to 2010, when the headlights in the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu stopped shining six times in a row after the round of 16. After the round of 16 ended again in 2019 and 2020, another nightmare looms. Can Los Blancos prevent this or is a new horror series manifesting against Bergamo?

Foto: IMAGO / PanoramiC“>Enlarge

Real on the ground: The elimination against Lyon in 2010 was the high or low point of the eighth-final curse – Foto: IMAGO / PanoramiC

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The 2010s offer consolation

MADRID. Juventus, Arsenal, Bayern, AS Roma, Liverpool and Lyon. Against these clubs, Real Madrid were eliminated from the Champions League six times in a row from the 2004/05 season to the 2009/10 season in the round of 16. So these six clubs in that order represent a black streak that many Madridistas would certainly like to oust. Or maybe even ousted them, because what the Spanish record champions have achieved in this very important competition in the recent past gave consolation for many things, is so far unattainable and possibly not destined to ever be achieved again by any team. We are of course talking about the fabulous four title wins including title hat trick in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

“A Ferrari without wheels”

At the turn of the millennium, the Madrilenians achieved something hardly less remarkable in the royal class when they were allowed to lift the handle pot in 1998, 2000 and 2002. What followed after that was a creeping process of decline that culminated in the said eighth-final horror series. Quite a few consider Claude Makélélé’s sale as the stumbling block for this negative development, when it had to give way for David Beckham in 2003 and a team with a completely overloaded offensive around Beckham, Zidane, Guti, Figo, Raúl and Ronaldo was left with a balance and Missing responsibilities. One of those who suffered was the then head coach Carlos Queiroz, who aptly put it with regard to Makélélé’s departure: “A Ferrari without wheels has problems. Florentino (Pérez; Anm. D. Red.) didn’t want to listen to me and in the end it was me who had to spoon out the soup.“In the 2003/04 season, the quarter-finals of the Champions League should still be reached when, of all things, Real loan Fernando Morientes knocked the“ Galácticos ”out of the tournament with his AS Monaco, but from then on the disaster took its course.

A nightmare that doesn’t want to end

In the 2004/05 season, Juventus Turin faced a top opponent in the round of 16. Los Blancos went into the second leg with a 1-0 home win, in which it was 1-0 for the “old lady” after 90 minutes – extra time. A goal by the Italians in the 116th minute ultimately sealed the bitter end for the white ballet. In the following year, Arsenal were faced with a (then) chunk at the beginning of the knockout round. A dream solo from Thierry Henry was enough for the Londoners to advance (0: 1, 0: 0) when he simply shook off half of Real’s team like annoying flies. Overall, the Madrilenians gave such a desolate picture that Florentino Pérez was even forced to step down as president of the club in the summer of 2006.

In the two following seasons 2006/07 and 2007/08, the Merengues were able to get the Spanish championship, but at European level they still gave the toothless tiger: in 2007 they failed due to the away goals rule and the fastest goal in Champions League history Roy Makaay at FC Bayern (3: 2, 1: 2), in 2008 they drew the short straw against AS Roma in the first and second leg (1: 2, 1: 2).

There were two bankruptcies a year later against Liverpool (0: 1, 0: 4), especially in the second leg of the duo Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. For the fifth time in a row they were out of the round of 16, with Vanderlei Luxemburgo, Juan Ramón López Caro, Fabio Capello, Bernd Schuster and Juande Ramos, by the way, each time a different coach stood on the sidelines.

In order to stop this grueling negative run, the really big guns should now be deployed, especially since Madrid now had a very big goal in mind: reaching the Champions League final in 2010 at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu!

2004/05: Out in the round of 16 against Juventus
2005/06: Out in the round of 16 against Arsenal
2006/07: Out in the round of 16 against Bayern
2007/08: Out in the round of 16 against AS Roma
2008/09: Out in the round of 16 against Liverpool
2009/10: Out in the round of 16 against Lyon

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Only “The Special One” brings the turning point

First, Florentino Pérez returned to the presidency in the summer of 2009 and made it his mission to put an end to Real’s misery. He installed Manuel Pellegrini as the new trainer and hired, among others, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso for an almost unbelievable and astronomical 300 million euros – that had to break the spell, right? Not at all! What followed was instead the climax of the CL round of 16 curse with the elimination against Olympique Lyon (0: 1, 1: 1) – despite the possible final in the home stadium and despite the gigantic transfer offensive! As a result, Pellegrini did not stay in the royal coaching chair longer than his predecessors, and later he would say: “It was already clear to me in the month of my arrival that I would stay until the end of the season at the most. The differences with the president were great from the start. He took me without believing in me. “

His successor was a certain José Mourinho, who with Inter Milan achieved what Real had dreamed of so much by winning the Champions League at the Bernabéu. He was supposed to be exactly the man on the sidelines that it apparently needed. Under the Portuguese, the horror round of 16 finally came to an end when they made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League in their debut season. And once the knot has burst, things go right straight away: Between 2011 and 2018, Los Blancos reached at least the semi-finals eight times in a row. No team has managed that before and suddenly the black series is followed by a downright “white” series.

The end of an era

We owe the latest triumphs through Europe to head coach Zinédine Zidane, who was involved as a player at the beginning of the round of 16 curse and now as coach completed the work that Mourinho started in 2011. “I would have liked to have come to Real Madrid the moment I left. Why? Because it is a dream to take over from José Mourinho. I am a bricklayer of football. After me, Real was ready to explode “, so the usual pithy words of “The Special One”.

Foto: IMAGO / PanoramiC“>

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Saw the sixth knockout round in a row as a guest of honor on Lyon’s grandstand and is now responsible for preventing a similar negative series: Zinédine Zidane – Foto: IMAGO / PanoramiC

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After the title hat trick in the premier class, Zidane left at the greatest possible moment in the summer of 2018, superstar Cristiano Ronaldo did the same. Something followed that in Madrid no longer knew what it felt like: the Champions League knockout in the round of 16 of the 2018/19 season! Against Ajax Amsterdam (2: 1, 1: 4) you were literally exposed. Also in the 2019/20 season they did not get past the round of 16 and lost both the first and second leg against Manchester City with 1: 2 – meanwhile again with “Zizou” as coach, at that time his first elimination in the competition which he won three times before.

Parallels to then?

There is a strange feeling. Are there not even parallels to then in the current situation? When you had to pack your bags permanently in the round of 16 after the Champions League titles around the turn of the millennium? Also now you came from an enormously successful time, also now twice in a row in the round of the last 16 was over. With Atalanta Bergamo (Wednesday, 9 p.m., im REAL TOTAL-Liveticker and Sky) another unpleasant task is now waiting for Toni Kroos and Co., the staff worries are also gigantic. So is the same fate looming as in the 00s and a relapse into dark times? Just recently, Predrag Mijatović, former striker and sports director at Concha Espina, said: “The Galácticos made history, but there comes a moment when key players are simply worn out and can no longer give what you need in the moment.” That is “Currently pretty similar to the situation of the Galácticos at that time.”

It is up to the players to prevent the third knockout round in a row. The omens are frighteningly similar to those of that time, a return to the 00s seems possible. But what Real legend Juanito used to say so memorably will also apply to Atalanta in the second leg at the latest: “Ninety minutes at the Bernabéu are long and hard!” 90 minutes in the Bernabéu is very long. Hopefully the same goes for the Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano.

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