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If you thought the Galacticos era was total failure, then think again

Over the last decade, the word 'Galactico' has never become a byword for anything other than some...



If you thought the Galacticos...
Soccer

If you thought the Galacticos era was total failure, then think again

Over the last decade, the word 'Galactico' has never become a byword for anything other than something negative.

The obvious reason is that the Real Madrid of the early noughties never won the trophies to match the reputations and price tags of their star-studded collective.

In that era between 2000 - when current President Florentino Perez first took office - and 2006 when he resigned, the club acquired a global superstar signing each summer. That period saw Real win the 2002 European Cup (i.e the one in which Zinedine Zidane scored that iconic volley against Bayer Leverkusen) and two La Liga trophies.

Listen to the full chat with Eduardo via the podcast player below (2 minutes in):

But as the era progressed the returns diminished on the pitch as Perez went into overdrive on his Zidanes y Pavones masterplan.

However, just before he and the Galacticos took control of the club, Real were languishing down in fifth in the Deloitte Football Rich List behind the likes of Manchester United, Milan, Juventus and Bayern Munich.

By the time, the Perez era was ending, they were top of the tree. But how much did the Galacticos really contribute to making Real Madrid the richest club in the world?

Michael Owen celebrates scoring with Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo ©INPHO/Getty Images

Have some of the great performances of that team been forgotten due to the lack of trophies? Could Real have won more trophies had they not got rid of Vicente Del Bosque, or at least have a manager like Carlo Ancelotti?

And what did Florentino Perez learn before embarking on Galacticos 2.0 team of Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale?

Spanish football journalist Eduardo Alvarez of ESPN and Radio Marca, who contributed to Team 33's World Cup coverage, joined us on the show again to answer all these questions and more.

Listen in via the podcast player or download for free via iTunes. 

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