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Real Madrid, a crumbling empire… 4 years ago, Real Madrid boasted an array of talent, tagged the galacticos. Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham and Figo were unstoppable. However Real Madrid’s failure to make a major summer signing has highlighted a shift in power. Real Madrid have achieved global status as the World’s most successful Club team. Real Madrid have won an absurd 57 trophies and have won the European Champions League a record breaking 9 times. However, the club in recent years have been much less successful, as the balance of power has shifted from Spain to England. This was reflected last season in the UEFA Champions League. Manchester United and Chelsea were the finalists while Real Madrid were knocked out by Roma in the first knockout phase. Although Real Madrid have enjoyed recent domestic success, they have been criticised for their boring playing style which is usually not associated with Real Madrid. Their domestic success and European failure has just confirmed that the standard of La Liga has dropped in recent seasons. A mediocre Real Madrid last season won La Liga comfortably and this showed that the quality of La Liga has decreased in recent years. The question is why? The reason English football is experiencing a dominant period over Spanish football is because English clubs have much more funds than Spanish clubs. Spanish clubs may generate more revenue but the owners of top English clubs provide almost unlimited transfer budgets which Spanish clubs cannot compete with. Abu Dhabi taking over Manchester City is just one example. Robinho was certainly an influential player for "Los Merengues" last season contributing 15 goals. However he moved to Manchester City for a record breaking £32.6 million in the summer transfer window. Real Madrid are losing their appeal and pulling power. They are losing players and failing to bring in world class players. They trailed Cristiano Ronaldo all summer, but with no end product. They turned instead to Rafael Van de Vaart. Not exactly the player Real Madrid fans had on their wish lists.  Real Madrid is a dying force in European football, it will always be considered one of the world’s most successful teams, but for how long can it stay competitive with the English clubs. Is it all downhill from here or will they make a comeback? Personally, unless the pulling power of the Premiership weakens I cannot see Real Madrid having a sustainable future!
By Matt Allen TF90M Update: Matt will be providing a regular update on the goings on in Spanish football. So keep checking back to see all the latest news, as well as browsing through our collection of exclusive interviews and other articles.
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