Club Profile: Real Madrid Club de Futbol

Dynastian98 12 years ago

Real Madrid 483 7140

Real Madrid Club
de Fútbol (aka Real Madrid [Royal Madrid], Los Blancos [The Whites], Los
Galacticos [The Superstars], and Los Merengues [The Meringues]), are a Spanish
professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The team has participated in
every season of the Spanish Primera Division, and is one of three clubs to have
never been relegated (alongside FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao). The current
2012-13 season is their 109th in history and 82nd
consecutive in La Liga. The team’s home stadium is called Estadio Santiago
Bernabéu.

History : Madrid
Football Club was founded in 1902, after a bunch of Oxford and Cambridge
students had introduced football to Madrid in 1897. The club became one of the
founding sides of the Royal Spanish Football Federation in 1909, and soon moved
to the ground Campo de O’Donnell in

Their name was changed to Real
Madrid after King Alfonso XIII granted the title of Real (Royal) to the club.****

Santiago
Bernabéu

In 1945, Santiago Bernabéu Yeste became
the president of Real Madrid. Under his presidency, players such as Alfredo di
Stéfano and Ferenc Puskás were signed. This would later on inspire the theme of
Los Galacticos. He also rebuilt the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu and the club’s
training grounds after the Spanish Civil War. During this time, the club
established itself as one of Europe’s and Spain’s primary forces, after they
won the first five European Cups.
Santiago Bernabéu died in 1978 during the World Cup. There was a three day
mourning decreed by FIFA, and Real Madrid organised the Santiago Bernabéu
Trophy in his honour.

La Quinta del
Buitre

Real had lost its position among
Europe’s finest by the 1980’s, but regained it in a memorable fashion after the
rise of some legendary home-grown players. They were nicknamed La Quinta del Buitre (The Vulture’s
Cohort), and these players were Emilio Butragueno, Manuel Sanchis, Martin
Vazquez, and Michel. Alongside Hugo Sanchez and Francisco Buyo, this team won 2
UEFA Cups, 5 Spanish Titles in a row, 1 Spanish Cup, and 3 Spanish Super Cups.
Later on in the late 90’s, the club would attain players such as Raúl, Roberto
Carlos, Clarence Seedorf, Fernando Hierro, etc.

Los Galacticos

After Fiorentino Pérez was appointed
president in 2000, he decided to bring in some of the finest players in the
world. Players such as Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, and Luís Figo
were brought in. It’s debatable if this was successful or not, because despite
winning the Champions League and Intercontinental Cup in 2002, the club failed
to win any major trophies for the next 3 years. The atmosphere turned sour in
Madrid, and Claude Makélélé left, winning coach Vincente del Bosque was sacked
by Pérez because he wanted a “younger” coach, and Real legend Fernando Hierro
left after an argument with Pérez. This continued for a long time, and after a
6-1 loss to Real Zaragoza in a Copa del Rey cup tie, Fiorentino Pérez resigned
as president on 2006.

Fiorentino Pérez, José Mourinho, and Cristiano Ronaldo

Perez returned as president in 2009, and
continued in his Galacticos pursuit
after he signed players Ricardo Kaká from AC Milan and Cristiano Ronaldo from
Manchester United. He also spent heavily on Xabi Alonso (Liverpool) and Karim
Benzema (Lyon). The club didn’t win anything the first season, but had picked
up the most points in their history (96), with manager Manuel Pellegrini being
controversially sacked at the end of the season.

In 2010, Jose Mourinho was
appointed as manager. In
April 2011, for the first time in history, 4 Clasicos were to be played in a span of 18 days. The first fixture
was for La Liga on April 17 (which ended 1-1 with penalty goals for both
sides), the Copa
del Rey final (which ended 1–0 to Madrid), and the
controversial two-legged Champions League semi-final on April 27 and May 2 (3–1
loss on aggregate) to Madrid.

The first Clasico saw two penalty
goals from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, which was also Ronaldo’s first El Clasico goal. The Copa del Rey final
gave Real Madrid its first title under Mourinho with a header from Cristiano Ronaldo in
extra time. The Champions League semifinal was perhaps the most controversial
of the four, with the sending off of Pepe in the first leg at the Santiago
Bernabéu, after an alleged "dangerous challenge" to Barcelona
defender Dani Alves.
Alves was carried out in a stretcher "unable to walk", but after Pepe
was shown red, Alves came running back into the field within seconds. After
Pepe's sending off, José Mourinho was also sent off, receiving a fine and a
five-match ban. This same match was also controversial in that Barcelona
midfielder Sergio
Busquets being captured on video saying what seemed like a
supposed racial slur to Madrid left-back Marcelo. The second leg was not as
controversial as the first, with perhaps the exception of a disallowed goal to Gonzalo Higuain,
after Cristiano Ronaldo had "fouled" Javier Mascherano as
a result of a foul to Ronaldo by Gerard Piqué.

At the
end of the 2011-12 season, Real Madrid won the La Liga title for the first time
in Barcelona’s Guardiola Era with a record total of 100 points, 121 goals
scored, +89 goal difference, 16 away wins and 32 overall wins. In the same
season, Cristiano Ronaldo became Madrid’s fastest player to score 100 league
goals (101 goals in 92 games), and he also scored the most goals in a Real
Madrid season, 60. He also became the first player to score against all the
other 19 teams in one La Liga season.

Club
Records

Most
Appearances :

1. Raúl
– 741

2. Manuel
Sanchis – 711

3. Iker Casillas – 648 (NOTE : Casillas is still active;
his appearances are still increasing)

4. Carlos
Santillana – 645

5. Fernando
Hierro – 601

Most
Goals (All Competitions) :

1. Raúl
– 323 in 741 games

2. Alfredo
di Stéfano – 305 in 392 games

3. Carlos
Santillana – 289 in 645 games

4. Ferenc
Puskás – 242 in 262 games

5. Hugo
Sánchez – 208 in 282 games

6. Francisco
Gento – 179 in 599 games

7. Emilio
Butragueno – 171 in 463 games

8. Pirri
– 171 in 561 games

9. Cristiano Ronaldo – 169 in 170 games (still
active and counting)

10. Amancio
Amaro – 155 in 471 games

Most
Goals in a Single Season

All Competitions - Cristiano Ronaldo (2011-12) – 60

La Liga – Cristiano Ronaldo (2011-12) – 46

Copa del Rey – Ferenc Puskás (1960-61) – 14

European Cup – Ferenc Puskás (1959-60) – 12

UEFA Champions League – Raúl (1999-00), Cristiano Ronaldo
(2011-12) – 10

Other
Goal-scoring Records

Youngest – Alberto Rivera (17 years, 114 days)

Oldest (Post WWII) - Ferenc Puskás (38 years, 233 days)

Most Goals in European Cup Finals - Ferenc Puskás – 7 (4
in 1960 and 3 in 1962)

Alfredo di Stéfano – 7 (1 in
1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, and 3 in 1960)

Fastest Goal – Ivan Zamorano – 12 seconds (vs. Sevilla in
1994-95 La Liga)

Ronaldo
– 14 seconds (vs. Atletico Madrid in 2003-04 La Liga)

Most hat-tricks – 22 Alfredo di Stéfano

Most hat-tricks in a single season – 7 Cristiano Ronaldo

International

Most caps : Iker Casillas (Spain) – 143 (and counting)

Most caps while playing for Real Madrid : Iker Casillas
(Spain) - 143 (and counting)

Most international goals : Ferenc Puskás (Hungary) – 84

Most international goals while playing for Real Madrid :
Raúl (Spain) – 44

Awards

Ballon d’Or – Alfredo di Stéfano (1957,1959), Raymond
Kopa (1958), Luis Figo (2000), Ronaldo (2002), Fabio Cannavaro (2006)

Golden Boot : Hugo Sánchez – 38 goals (1990)

Cristiano
Ronaldo – 40 goals (2011)

FIFA World Player of the Year – Luis Figo (2001), Ronaldo
(2002), Zinedine Zidane (2003), Fabio Cannavaro (2006)

Highest
Transfer Fees

Paid : 1. Cristiano Ronaldo (80 Mil Pounds) – Manchester United

2 Kaká
(56 Mil Pounds) – AC Milan

3.
Zinedine Zidane (45 Mil Pounds) - Juventus

4. Luis
Figo (37 Mil Pounds) – FC Barcelona

5. Karim
Benzema/Xabi Alonso/Luka Modrić (30 Mil Pounds) – Lyon/Liverpool/Tottenham

Sold : 1. Robinho (32.5 Mil Pounds) – Manchester City

2. Nicolas
Anelka/Arjen Robben (22 Mil Pounds) – Paris Saint-Germain/Bayern Munchen

4.
Michael Owen (17 Mil Pounds) – Newcastle United

5.
Claude Makélélé (16 Mil Pounds) – Chelsea FC

TITLES

La Liga – 32 (record)

1931-32, 1932-33, 1953-54, 1954-55, 1956-57, 1957-58, 1960-61,
1961-62, 1962-63, 1963-64, 1964-65, 1966–67, 1967–68,1968–69, 1971–72, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1994–95,1996–97, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2011–12

Copa del Rey – 18

1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1917, 1934, 1936, 1946, 1947, 1961–62, 1969–70, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1988–89,1992–93, 2010–11

Supercopa de Espana – 9

1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2008, 2012

Copa Eva Duarte – 1

1947

Copa de la Liga – 1

1985

UEFA Champions League/European Cup – 9 (record)

1955-56, 1956-57, 1957-58, 1958-59, 1959-60, 1965-66,
1997-98, 1999-00, 2001-02

UEFA Cup – 2

1984-85, 1985-86

UEFA European Super Cup – 1

2002

Intercontinental Cup – 3 (record)

1960, 1998, 2002

INTERESTING
FACTS

Real Madrid won the first FIVE European Cups in a row

Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player in La Liga to
score against all the other 19 teams in one season

Real Madrid has been voted by FIFA to be the best club
of the 20th Century

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