Madrid press pile pressure on Pellegrini
Wednesday 28 October 2009 11:30
It may have been a miserable Tuesday night for Real Madrid but it was a magnificent one for the glaziers of the city.
As Alcorcón’s fourth goal flew in, the squeal of protest from a fist-flying Florentino Pérez in his presidential high chair was so piercing that it shattered windows for miles around Alcorcón’s Santo Domingo stadium – the scene of what is being described in Wednesday’s press as the lowest point in Real Madrid’s history.
Since the last one, anyway.
NEWS: Real humiliated in King's Cup
An omen of the wonderfully entertaining events to come were perhaps to be found in the tea leaves of Tuesday’s Madridista press, which featured the freebie-loving footballers at a promotional event for Audi the day before, accepting their sponsor-provided cars for the season.
The two Diarras selected the most expensive models worth around €160,000 each, while a more modest Arbeloa went for a cheeky Coupé costing a mere €51,290.
An enterprising TV station visited the car park at Alcorcón to compare these pimp-mobiles with the models owned by Tuesday’s Copa del Rey opponents.
Unsurprisingly, the cars were a little less flashy, considering the average annual salary of a player in the Segunda B (third tier) outfit is €36,000 - €4,500 times smaller than Cristiano Ronaldo’s pay-packet.
It was the set-up for the mother of all pratfalls and Real Madrid’s pampered players duly obliged.
Tuesday's blog complained that the Copa del Rey was completely devoid of drama unless a team as utterly incompetent as Real Madrid stumble along and stuff things up completely.
The Castle Greyskull outfit were booted out of the tournament by Real Uníon at this stage last season in a similar manner and - bless their satin socks - they look set to be following the same pathetic path, once again, against another lower-league outfit.
But Alcorcón can perhaps count themselves lucky to face a weakened Madrid side forced to field the likes of Benzema, Van der Vaart, Lady Gago and Raúl.
And they took advantage of their injury-ravaged opponents by going 3-0 up by half-time and finishing the match with four. And very nearly five. Without reply.
However, Raúl is very much with the stiff upper lip and claims that there is all to play for in the Bernabeu on November 10.
“If there’s any team that knows how to come back, it’s Madrid,” said the club captain, happily ignoring recent two-legged ties against Real Uníon, Liverpool, Betis, Bayern Munich, Arsenal...
Unsurprisingly, the reaction to the 4-0 reverse in Wednesday’s Madridista press is less than sympathetic.
“A disgrace!” yells AS from the front cover, “the joke of the century.”
Inside, poor Tomás Roncero describes the game as “the biggest humiliation I can remember in my 44 years of militant Madridismo.”
The crackpot columnist then wails that “millions of Madridistas were embarrassed in their homes.”
La Liga Loca thinks that tantrum-tastic Tomás should count his blessings.
Real Madrid fans are normally humiliated at the Bernabeu. Or in bars. At least Tuesday night was more private.
Marca’s main role in the post-match panic is to ensure that Florentino Pérez should not be blamed for any of the recent reverses suffered by his expensively-assembled side.
“Get out!” blasts the paper’s front cover on Wednesday over a picture of Third-Choice Chilean Manuel Pellegrini.
“Madrid haven’t played a decent, complete game of football all season,” notes Santiago Segurola inside.
Roberto Gómez agrees that the loss to Alcorcón was the worst in Madrid’s history and is all with the told-you-so in his column, tucked away on page 12.
“They called me anti-Madridista, anti-Valdano, anti-Pellegrini, but sadly time has proved that I was right,” ranted a not-sounding-sad-at-all Roberto.
“Florentino has played his role,” grovels Wednesday’s editorial which comes THAT close to calling for his firing: “It’s Pellegrini who hasn’t fulfilled his requirements.”
The Barcelona papers are - to be vulgar, but hey, this is Spain - p*ssing their pants with the hilarity of the situation.
And who can blame them?
“Ridiculo Historico!” yells Sport with Josep Maria Casanovas writing that “this is the beginning of the end for Pellegrini.”
Mundo Deportivo are equally as jubilant with a front cover blasting “Humiliation!"
However, there is some light at the end of the tunnel for miserable Madridistas who need something to cheer them up after their latest humiliation.
Florentino Pérez is set to give a lecture to a university in Alicante on Wednesday night, on “the management model of Real Madrid.”
That's surely good for a few giggles to help turn those frowns upside down.
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About Tim Stannard
La Liga Loca is the playground for the evil, more childish half of Tim Stannard’s psyche to be let loose. The other 50% is a contributor to FourFourTwo magazine, Football365, Sabotage Times as well as other publications such as UEFA Champions Magazine and When Saturday Comes. He is also a regular guest on Real Madrid TV’s Extra Time show and works as a TV producer extraordinaire for hire. To contact Tim directly email laligaloca@yahoo.co.uk