Paddy Agnew/Euroscene: Real Madrid and Chelsea fans might disagree but, from the neutral viewpoint, the last week has been good for football.
Starting with Monaco's qualification for the Champions League final and ending with Valencia lifting the Spanish League title on Sunday, this was a week when the traditional values of long-term planning, team organisation and hard graft overturned the money-laden merchants of "foot biz".
The biggest loser of the week, all too obviously, was the mighty Real. The Merengues contributed to their own Champions League downfall last month in as much as they continue to pay a large whack of the wages of Monaco striker Fernando Morientes. Loaned out to the French side for the season, Morientes repaid his Real masters by scoring decisive goals against them in both legs of the quarter-final tie.
It can hardly have made the Real clan much happier to find themselves sitting in front of the TV on Wednesday night as Morientes again did the business in that 2-2 draw with Chelsea. That was painful enough but the final humiliation came at the weekend when Real's 3-2 home defeat by Real Mallorca on Saturday, followed by Valencia's 2-0 win at Seville on Sunday, was enough to see Valencia wrap up their second league title in three seasons.
Whatever about the wisdom of offloading Morientes, Real also got things wrong in a much more unforgivable way. In the interests of media hype and foot-biz glamour, they have chosen to adopt a lop-sided approach to team building. Strike power such as Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham, etc, have been trumpeted in to much acclaim but the club did not to buy central defenders or defensive midfielders, both badly needed.
The net result is all too obvious. Valencia have won the title with two days and seven points to spare. Curiously, they have scored the same number of goals as Real, 70. Tellingly, they have conceded exactly half the goals conceded by Real, 24 as opposed to 48.
It is difficult not to conclude Valencia's success represents a victory for old-fashioned values - solid defence, good team organisation and graft. Valencia, unlike Real, have a defensive backbone, made up of Argentinian (and AC Milan reject) Roberto Ayala, partnered by 39-year-old (AS Roma reject) Amedeo Carboni and fronted by midfield battlers Ruben Baraja and David Albelda. The last-mentioned pair are likely to feature in Spain's Euro 2004 squad in Portugal next month.
Rounding off the Valencia success story is coach Rafa Benitez, a former reserve team coach at - guess where - Real Madrid. Benitez has managed to win two league titles where his two predecessors, Argentinian Hector Cuper and Chelsea's Claudio Ranieri, failed.
Mention of Ranieri brings the wheel full circle back to Stamford Bridge and that Champions League tie last Wednesday. While British media and fans were clearly on Ranieri's side in his various battles, both against Monaco and an impending sacking from Chelsea supremo Russian millionaire Roman Abramovich, that support for the coach overlooked the profound implications of seeing Chelsea win the Champions League. Namely, that you can buy instant success at the very highest level.
Football wags like to think it takes more than money to craft a winning team. The recent reversals experienced by Chelsea and Real would seem to prove their point. One question remains, however - namely, for how long? Could it be, come this time next year, we will be previewing a Real Madrid v Chelsea Champions League final, a final contested by two wealthy clubs which will have new coaches and new players, maybe even defenders, next season?
Foot biz may be temporarily down but it is unlikely to be out for long.
