Only CL Missing
The club that holds most trophies in Spain and in the world won the champions ring last season but we got the impression that the champion title was celebrated without much enthusiasm. There are various reasons for this but most probable cause is a too early and unexpected elimination of the Royal club from the Champions League. After big clean-up in the club during last summer and after many stars, that didn't live up to expectations, left, Real Madrid started the new season with several comparatively discreet back-ups and a new coach who was once favourite player in Madrid, Bernd Schuster. Fantastic play and even better results stirred up fans' imagination and desires, so a huge gap in the first part of the championship led many to believe that the Royal club will again be champions and at least finalists in the Champions league. Copa del Rey which has not visited Royal club's shelves since 1993, was also mentioned. The crisis in the play and results in March allowed only for the champion's title to become reality.
A calm transfer window
After EURO 2008 finished where Spain became world champions after 45 years and Real contributed with only two internationals, not many back ups came to the club during the summer. Couple of years ago the Dutch taking over the team, which was typical of Real's biggest rivals, Barcelona, continued with signing Wesley Sneijder and over the last few weeks it culminated with signing Rafael Van der Vaart, a Hamburger man till recently whose Spanish first name is not a coincidence – his mother is from Spain. Besides her another woman influenced on this transfer, his wife who is a model and who will definitely have more work in Madrid, one of the European fashion capitals. Once anonymous and now a world-class player, Ruben de la Red came back from nearby Getafe, and Granero also arrived.
Javi Garcia came from Osasuna and Antonio Casano, Pablo Garcia and so far invisible Balboa left the club. Many famous names were speculated to come to Madrid during the summer, like Cristiano Ronaldo, Drogba, Huntelaar and David Villa but so far there hasn't been a trace of these transfers. The rest of the team is mostly the same, and it is still uncertain whether Robinho will end up in Chelsea.
In
Ezequiel Garay (Racing Santander), Javi García (Osasuna), Ruben de la Red (Getafe), Rafael van der Vaart (Hamburg)
Out
Ezequiel Garay (Racing Santander - on loan), Javier Balboa (Benfica), Esteban Granero (Getafe), Roberto Soldado (Getafe), Julio Baptista (AS Roma), Pablo García (PAOK), Robinho (Man. city)
New season- new hopes
With one more year of experience and an almost identical squad form last year Real Madrid squad could again be the most serious contender for European top. They will focus on this quest for after two successive Primera titles; the championship is out of focus. They have already gone six years since the last European trophy and ever since the European competition is a bumpy road for Real since each time they failed to move past the quarterfinals. Wounded pride and the experienced line-up which is definitely fresher because they didn't give many internationals this year, will add up to significant results this year.
Our tip: Position in top 4
Odds
Bookmaker: Bet365
CL
CLQ
UEFA
RELEG
