Crisis time at Real Madrid

CRISIS time at Real Madrid. On Sunday the current Spanish champions sacked their Argentine coach Jorge Valdano, thus underlining a difficult moment in what has proved a surprisingly disappointing season.

Just last June Valdano was hailed as the hero of the hour In his first season with the most famous name in Spanish soccer he had led Real to their first title win since 1990. That triumph was made all the sweeter for Real fans by the fact it ended a four year winning run arch rivals, Barcelona.

Given that Valdano had achieved his success during a transitional year which had seen household names such as Emilio Butragueno and Rafaele Martin Varquez be replaced by Chilean Ivan Zamorano and the relatively unknown Jose Emilio Amavisca, it was not unreasonable to predict even better things for this year.

However, the bleak reality for Real at this halfway point in the season is that they are already out of the Spanish Cup, almost out of the championship race and have failed to impress in the Champions League.

Following a 2-1 defeat by relegation battlers Rayo Vallecano on Sunday, Real are eighth in the league, 16 points behind the leaders, their city rivals, Atletico Madrid.

Worse still for Valdano was the fact that Sunday's defeat came just three days after Real were knocked out of the Spanish Cup by Espanol. Real's season now appears to hinge their March Champions Cup quarter final tie with Italian champions Juventus.

Given the impressive form shown by Juventus in the Champions League thus far, Real may well find that by the end of March their sole remaining seasonal objective will be to win a UEFA Cup place for next season by finishing in the top five or six. All of which represents very humble pie for what was once the most successful and glamorous name in European club soccer.

An understandably disappointed Valdano could offer no immediate explanation for the club's problems on Sunday night. Not for the first time, a sacked manager was heard to plead for more time, saying "It's a sad day, we hoped to stay to the end of the season and make a comeback", commented Valdano in reference to himself and his assistant Angel Cappa.

Right from the start, this has been a difficult season for Real Madrid. Two pre season Supercup losses (to Deportiva La Coruna), two home league losses in three outings and a 1-0 Champions League defeat by Dutch side Ajax in the opening weeks did not augur well.

Rather than recover from that poor start, Real continued to struggle and, in the mean time, have lost another five league games. Worse still, Real have also been beset by board room problems which came to a head in mid November with the, resignation of the club's president since 1985, Ramon Mendoza.

The primary reason for Mendoza's departure was the club's dramatic financial situation which sees it burdened with debts of $100 million. Mendol alleged mismanagement had inflated the annual budget from $15 to $65 million, prompting the hardly helpful comment from arch rival, Barcelona president Josep Nunez "Real have been travelling in limousines and eating caviar while we've been making do with taxis and sardines."

The fact that a player such as Manolo Sanchis, one of the last survivors of the successful mid 80s side that won five consecutive titles, is on a salary worth approximately $3.5 million suggests that maybe Mendoza's detractors had a point.

Mendoza's handling of Real also prompted a famous observation from the legendary Cesar Menotti, the man who coached Argentina to their 1978 World Cup triumph. Asked by Mendoza if he thought that the then AC Milan (now Italy) coach Arrigo Sacchi could recreate a Milan style, winning run at Real Madrid, Menotti replied "Sure, if he brings Berlusconi with him too.

Berlusconi, of course, is the Milan club owner and media millionaire Silvio Berlusconi.

Real have already appointed a new manager. Vicente Del Bosque takes over n a temporary basis and his first priority will be to sort out a Real defence that has recently looked shaky, conceding goals within the first 10 minutes of Real's last four games.

This weekend Spanish observers were predicting that Del Bosque is merely warming the seat for either the former Deportivo La Coruna coach, Arsenio Iglesias, or for the former Real defender, Jose Camacho, currently coach at Espanol.

In the meantime, Del Bosque must hope to make the best of a strange Spanish season which sees the hitherto disastrous Atletico Madrid leading from the relatively unknown Compostela.

Del Bosque and others must be hoping that either of or both the leaders will crack between now and June, allowing for a late run from his side. Good luck to him.