Spanish Thing

Even by their own insane standards, the Real Madrid-aligned sports daily Marca found an unusual target to blame for the club's sixth successive exit from the Champions League last-16 stage.

Along with calling for the head of Manuel Pellegrini (of course), the paper stepped up their campaign to see Argentinean striker Gonzalo Higuaín booted out of the club too.

Although the forward was far from his best in the ties against Olympique Lyon - along with most of his team-mates - Higuaín was ripped into tiny pieces in the paper which has never attempted to hide its affiliation to Madrid's all-powerful, media-controlling, paranoid president Florentino Pérez.

The crime for which Higuaín was hung, drawn and quartered was failing to pass to Cristiano Ronaldo in one chance during Wednesday night's second leg 1-1 draw and hitting the post with another.

'Ronaldo is paying...for Higuaín not thinking of the team,' tutted Friday's edition that took time out to praise Ronaldo's famous sense of team spirit.

This was simply the continuation of a nasty, mean-spirited, politically-motivated campaign that has been running throughout the season and is at the beating heart of why Florentino Pérez - who is Marca's unofficial editor-in-chief - continues to mock the notion that Madrid is a 'club of gentlemen'.

Just two weeks before, Marca's director Eduardo Inda responded to widespread praise for the striker's performances by writing that the 22-year-old would only be considered great, 'when he scores a decisive goal in the Champions League final, in el Clásico or in the final in Johannesburg on the 11th July'.

From all these damning accusations, those unfamiliar with life in la Liga would assume that Higuaín was footballing deadwood, a dunce, an overpriced flop, like Karim Benzema and Kaká, for example, two of Pérez' show ponies brought in over the summer.

Instead, the Argentine international will be leading the line for his country in the World Cup, was Madrid's top league scorer last season with 22 strikes, is the club's top scorer in the league this season with 19 goals in 16 starts, is loved by the fans for his hard work and attitude and has a habit of scoring vital, comic-book great goals when the side is in ten shades of s**t.

But all this is of no interest to Florentino due to three major issues.

The first is that Higuaín is making his own import Karim Benzema look very poor indeed, especially as the brooding Frenchman vanished without trace into the club's treatment rooms some time ago.

The second is that Gonzalo's seven-letter surname doesn't sell enough shirts - a serious offence in itself.

But the third is the most heinous of all for Higuaín: the international was signed by Madrid's presidential predecessor and sworn enemy, Ramón Calderón.

The last Galactico project failed dismally as President Pérez was all-controlling and would not allow any of his many, many coaches to drop under-performing superstars to the bench, no matter how indifferent their form. This created a poisonous atmosphere in the dressing room between the Galactico Zidanes and the journeyman Pavónes.

To an extent, this policy still remains as seen by the fact that the (Calderón signed) Rafael Van der Vaart has spent much of the season on the bench, only to replace Kaká - and be considerably more effective - when the €68m Brazilian is injured.

Another area where Pérez still just doesn't get it is the idea of letting his coach do the coaching.

During the summer, Manuel Pellegrini claimed that Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder would play crucial roles in his tactical plans for the season ahead.

Both were swiftly sold for the simple reason that they were star signings of the Ancien Régime. Pérez' prickly ego easily won the battle over pragmatism.

If Florentino happened to be the owner of Real Madrid then all this would fine and dandy. If he paid all the bills, then he could do what he wanted, no matter how unhinged. But one of the construction magnate's biggest tricks has been to be convince the world that he is and he can.

Pérez is supposed to act in the best interests of the club and its owner-members and not himself. But in this all-important aspect, the president is failing once again.

All Florentino managed over the summer was to win the presidency by being the only candidate who could afford to stand and pull political favours to persuade banks to fund the insane summer spending at a time when hundreds of thousands of businesses all over Spain were desperate for the cash too.

Whilst sporting director Jorge Valdano is quite right to say that Madrid's latest project is a five-year one, a good €100m of the members' money could have been saved by keeping Robben, Sneijder and Spanish international striker Alvaro Negredo and not splurging on Kaká, Benzema and the really-not-up-to-the-job Esteban Granero.

However, that would have significantly reduced the amount of times that Florentino could have stood in front of the adoring masses of the Bernabe, over the summer unveiling his footballing trinkets.

Pérez has been considerably less visible in recent days in the wake of another Champions League exit with Marca claiming that his silence is 'his best weapon'.

Instead, gushing editorials have appeared in the paper disassociating Mr President for the latest disaster including Saturday's back-page butt-lick which lists seven reasons why Florentino was completely blameless.

As well as much grovelling, solutions have also been sought to fix Madrid's ongoing Champions League glitch.

But rather than the answer being patient planning and consistency both on the field and on the bench, the Madridista press have been calling for the signings of Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas, David Silva, Frank Ribery and David Villa in an uncanny impression of the "I want that one" character from Little Britain.

Despite Real Madrid responding to Wednesday's crushing blow in Europe with a 4-1 away win over a tremendously violent Valladolid, it was yet another bitter night for Madrid's presidential bigwig.

The victory saw a hat-trick for Gonzalo Higuaín - the international striker who only scores in unimportant games against unimportant teams.

One of those goals came from a headed pass from Ronaldo allowing Marca to note that the Portuguese player was the spirit of teamwork whilst castigating his forward partner for celebrating his strikes in what appeared to be an angry manner.

And that'' not surprising considering the treatment that Higuaín has received in the press during the week - treatment that Manuel Pellegrini claimed badly affected him.

"'Pipa' was feeling down but he's got personality," claimed the Real Madrid coach after the win which sees Madrid top of the table on goal difference to a Messi-inspired Barcelona, although the end-of-season places will be decided on a head-to-head basis.

Jorge Valdano, who has the job of controlling his president's tantrums, claims that Madrid are keen to keep his young countryman at the club for life. However, they are going about it in a very half-hearted way.

Higuaín is currently on a deal which sees him on €1.5m a year until 2013, but he has rejected renewal offers which would reportedly see the striker on €2.5m. And that's not too surprising considering Benzema is on €8.5m.

The expected departure of the international over the summer could be a win-win situation for everyone except for Real Madrid supporters who have grown rather fond of their talisman, despite the attempts to smear him in Spain's most-read newspaper.

Florentino can rid himself of tainted goods he considers to be an embarrassment to himself and his own prize players and Higuaín can find himself a club where he will be respected for being the fantastic player that he is.

Any transfer - with Manchester City the strong favourites to sign him up - would simply show why Real Madrid are continuing to get it wrong where it matters most.

For the all-powerful club president, it will always be Florentino first and football second.

Round 26 Results

Getafe 3-0 Mallorca
Sporting 0-0 Athletic
Sevilla 1-1 Deportivo
Racing 0-0 Zaragoza
Barcelona 3-0 Valencia
Tenerife 4-1 Espanyol
Villarreal 2-0 Xerez
Almería 1-0 Málaga
Valladolid 1-4 Real Madrid
Atlético v Osasuna (Monday)


Tim Stannard