Friday, October 06, 2006

Real Madrid and Chelsea cross swords

It is not about a contest to beat the opponent on the field playing the beautiful game- soccer.

It is about a war of words, a locking of horns if you like of football's richest club in the world, Real Madrid versus the Chelsea of England who has the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, as the benefactor.

Real's president Ramon Calderon, believes the double Premiership champions Chelsea are over-inflating transfer fees for other European clubs and expressed concern at the huge financial loss the Blues have made since Abramovich arrived.

Chelsea is shooting barbs back by accusing Real of not being completely transparent in their own accounts.

Calderon says he is worried what would happen were the Russian to walk away from Stamford Bridge, as they as already lost €220m last season.

Real Madrid has not won any silverware in the last few seasons, either in the domestic league or the European championships. Several of their legendary players like Figo and Zidane have left the club.

Perhaps the trophy drought is having some pressure on Calderon to revive past glory of Real's illustreous history.

The way to do that is not to worry about what will happen to Chelsea when they make financial losses, but to build a strong Real team that not only has individual superstars but more importantly is committed to play as a team and is hungry for winning on the pitch.

Real Madrid and Chelsea and every other club can buy or sell players as determined by their market value. That is the beauty of a free and an open market.

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