Borussia Dortmund wonderkid Mario Gotze has recently stated that his dream is to play for either of the two Spanish giants, Real Madrid or Barcelona. The 19-year-old attacking midfielder has been in scintillating form for Die Borussen over the last year, amassing 12 goals and 19 assists in 51 games. He was fairly influential in Dortmund's victorious Bundesliga campaign last season. Captain and pivotal figure Nuri Sahin left the German club this summer to join Real Madrid, leading many people to doubt Dortmund's ability to threaten for the league in Sahin's absence. But, the diminutive Gotze has only upped his game and been ever so influential in Dortmund's challenge this Hinrunde.
Whether young Mario wants to follow in Sahin's footsteps, or the thought of playing for one of the most successful clubs in the world is his main influence, Gotze's move to Spain seems fairly imminent. He surely won't make the move this January, but talks may start in June. Assuming Gotze does move this summer, here is a look at where he'd probably fit at the two clubs.
When the final whistle went off at the end of 90' at the Santiago Bernabeu the result 3-1 would have hard to sink in, if sometime had gone off to sleep at halftime. But this is Barcelona, the best team in the world at the moment and they would have left Mourinho gasping as to what is left for him to do to beat this Barcelona side something which he hasn't achieved in 4 league meetings, the first Real Madrid manager to achieve such a feat.
Since moving to a country with a different timezone my football viewing has been made more smoother with EPL at breakfast and LaLiga at lunch or tea time. And with ElClasico at a perfect time in the day I couldn't miss it for any reason. And while I was following it, the tension certainly was rising as each minute passed by even for the neutral in me. The Barca fans must have had a tough time in the first half and the Madrid fans in the 2nd. Add to that if I was told that 3-1 was a fair reflection of the game,I wouldn't have an option but agree as Real Madrid were made to pay for all the missed chances they ought to have finished.The reason why you can't get off your couch when your watching a football match right from the 1st second till the end of the game was once again displayed today by the universal declaration of beautiful and scintillating football.
Long have gone the days when an unfancied Valencia side devoid of any superstars could challenge and beat the mighty Real Madrid and Barcelona to win the La Liga. Infact it is nearing a decade since a side outside of the top two won the league. The huge gulf in quality between the top 2 and the rest has never been greater and the chances of any team challenging the might of the top 2 are remote and only a fool would even consider betting on a team to even finish within 10 points of Real and the majestic Catalans. So many factors could be attributed to the occurring demise of La Liga. The independent tv rights deal is one major reason why the wealth is so skewed in favour of the top clubs in Spain. The clubs for one have the complete independence to negotiate their own tv rights and thus Real Madrid with their Galacticos and the technically excellent nimble footed Catalans end up getting the most lucrative share of the pot with the lower clubs trying to scramble over the leftovers. And this pool of lower clubs has now even engulfed the 3rd and 4th best teams.
On one hand you see a Madrid pocketing a cool 130 odd+ million $ in tv rights alone and on the other hand you see Atletico pocketing 40mn$. And this directly increases the amount that the teams will be able to spend on player acquisitions and wages. No wonder Madrid and Barcelona have the luxury of smashing the transfer record at will. Barcelona were able to splash more than 50mn on only two players and this inspite of borrowing a loan in the region of 125mn pounds a year before just to pay the wages and operating costs!!!
So far so good, now bring into picture the so called revolutionary Financial Fair Play regulations of Michel Platini. A club would have live to within their earnings, Spend as much as you earn and what will it do these clubs where clearly the top teams are earning 100mn more than the rest. What message will it send out to a sheik in the middle east who wants to buy a club in Spain. Will he be able to buy his club a Champions league or even a Europa league for instance? I don't think so. Wonder how Malaga will cope once these regulations will be brought into play and how much will they be able to spend once the strings in the purse of the sheik get tightened by the FFP regulations. Will he still be motivated to hang around and watch in awe the tiki taka brilliance of the Catalans against the substandard teams of the league? Surely not.
These things have woken up the Presidents of the other league from their deep slumber and they are protesting, not everyone as of now but still are. Threats of playing a substandard side against the big 2 if they do not budge are also being branded about. These are early days after all. The big two on the other hand have their own stick to beat these lesser guys with. We are reason why people watch you, we are reason why you get the huge sums when you play against us, we are the reason why the La Liga is famous is what they are saying.
A talk of a European super league is also being mentioned and this although remains a pipe-dream that their fellow clubs from England, Germany and Italy would be less forthcoming on joining them into. The shadow of the Scottish league looms large in Spain and don’t be fooled by the recent draw that Barcelona suffered at the hands of Sociedad at the weekend. The top players in the league that play for the other teams have started departing abroad already. The benchmark is to make a move to the top two when you start reaching the top or else go abroad. Silva did so last year. Aguero, De Gea, Mata were not hesitant to follow suit either. Aguero confessed that the lure of winning trophies at Eastlands was too hard to resist. Mata was more forthcoming when he summed up the situation more perfectly by confessing that come January there would be nothing worth fighting for, The league would be out of grasp with no hope of catching up what so at all.
The balance between Spain and England could shift again with the marquee players starting to move abroad and the EPL clubs benefiting from it. Should the current trend continue we could see more top players moving to England, wonder what will it do to the competition and the quality of the opposition that Madrid and Barcelona will face week in week out in the La Liga. The chances of having another all English final again are distant but not an impossibility that people make it out to be because of the brilliance of Real and Barcelona. Remember it is the lesser sides that make them look even more majestic and beautiful then they really might be. Ask Milan or Inter or perhaps Chelsea even.
Real Madrid, the team which is one of the richest, successful and influential club both in Spain and all over the world seemed to be in disarray till the beginning of this season. Their last league title coming 3 years back, not reaching the Champions League quarters for over 7 years and not able able to win the Copa del Rey for a long time were enough reasons for the Real Madrid management to bring one of the most shrewd and magical coaches in the world to the Spanish capital and it was none other than Jose Mourinho. And the turnaround is the reason why the El Clásico is going to take place not once but four times in the next 18 days and it surely is gonna get as exciting as one can expect.
April 16th 2011 - Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona - La Liga 2nd Leg
April 20th 2011 - FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid - Copa del Rey Final
April 27th 2011 - Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona - UEFA Champions League 1st Leg
May 3rd 2011 - FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid - UEFA Champions League 2nd Leg
With the arrival of Mourinho the master tactician, Real Madrid have shown signs of the successful past even though they are some distance behind Barcelona in the league and were drubbed 5-0 when they travelled to the Nou Camp earlier in the season. However Los Galacticos might want want to return the favour when Barcelona travel to the Spanish capital tonight. Four games in 18 days between the same teams might sound boring, but not for this one. The rivalry built between both these teams over the years is still alive and in recent times Barcelona have overshadowed Madrid a great deal which is why Real Madrid would like to get even.
Barcelona seem to be unstoppable with the likes of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta in their ranks and Madrid would need their very own Christiano Ronaldo to step up to the plate. Madrid recent loan signee Adebayor will surely play an important part along with Frenchman Karim Benzema if Madrid are to fulfill their dreams. Their recent destruction of Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League will boost their confidence a great deal. Mourinho might use the first two games as practice to fuel Madrid 's ambition of winning the Champions League which has become their Holy Grail in recent times. Though he might not take the pitch his influence will be forever felt in all the four games as he walks down the sidelines writing a script to destroy the mighty Catalans.
Neither team is particularly keen on defending, which means we're likely to see a glut of goals. That's sweet music to every fan's ears. And as former Barcelona full-back Giovanni van Bronckhorst puts it
"The whole world stops to watch this match; that shows just how huge it is."
