Lionel Messi (center) celebrates his goal with Luis Suarez (right) and Neymar after scoring Barcelona’s fifth goal against Celtic in their Champions League Group C match, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Madrid, Jul 7 (EFE).- The dispute between Real Madrid and Barcelona to gain the services of Arda Güler is not the first that both clubs have experienced throughout their history.
On this occasion, the club chaired by Florentino Pérez was the one that took the plunge and got the signing of the Turkish player. On other occasions, Real Madrid also emerged victorious, but Barcelona has also managed to raise some signings for the white team. These are the stories of the most striking names for which the two main Spanish soccer clubs fought:
1.- DI STÉFANO, THE SIGNING THAT CHANGED HISTORY
Undoubtedly, the signing of Alfredo Di Stéfano by Real Madrid is the most controversial of the entire list of players for whom the two entities fought. Santiago Bernabéu took over his services in 1953 when Real Madrid had gone 17 seasons without winning a league title.
Since the 1933/34 academic year, with the break caused by the Civil War in between, Barcelona (5), Atlético (4), Valencia (3), Athletic (3), Sevilla (1) and Betis (1), they grabbed all the titles. Later, with Di Stéfano in their ranks, Real Madrid won 8 titles until his departure in the 1963/64 campaign.
Di Stéfano had been a Barca target since 1952, when their star, Ladislao Kubala, suffered from a major lung disease. Fearing the end of his sports career, Barcelona set their sights on the Argentine. At that time, Di Stéfano was playing for Millonarios de Colombia, a team to which he left from River Plate in 1948 after a strike that caused the departure of 57 footballers.
FIFA reacted by expelling Colombia from its organization and in 1951 reached an agreement: the “escaped” players would remain the property of the corresponding Colombian club until the end of the contract. Afterwards, they would return to their club of origin.
Di Stéfano belonged to Millonarios until October 15, 1954 and was to return to River Plate on January 1, 1955. Barcelona went to the Argentine club to sign the “Saeta Rubia”, paid close to four million pesetas and in May 1953 Di Stéfano came to visit the Camp Nou.
Millionaires denounced the maneuver to FIFA, because until January 1955 Di Stéfano was not owned by River. The Colombian club demanded $27,000 from Barcelona to allow the transfer of Di Stéfano. Barcelona refused, Real Madrid appeared, which did pay that amount and FIFA intervened: Di Stéfano would play for the white team in the 1953/54 and 1955/56 seasons and for Barcelona in 1954/55 and 1956/57. Then they both had to agree. The Barça club finally renounced the signing and Di Stéfano changed the history of Real Madrid.
2. BECKHAM, FROM UNITED’S PRE-AGREEMENT WITH BARÇA TO HIS SIGNING BY MADRID
David Beckham was also the cause of dispute between Real Madrid and Barcelona. The Manchester United midfielder finally chose the club chaired by Florentino Pérez, who in the summer of 2003 signed another of his galacticos after the signings of Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo Nazario.
However, Barcelona was about to get his signing: Laporta reached a pre-agreement with Manchester United, but Beckham preferred Real Madrid and got away with it. For 25 million euros, the English soccer star went to the white team, where he played four seasons in which he won a League and a Spanish Super Cup.
3. VALENCIA, KEY IN THE SIGNING OF VILLA BY BARCELONA
In the summer of 2009, when Florentino Pérez returned to the presidency of Real Madrid, he tried to sign David Villa. He did it twice, but failed. «I belonged to Valencia. I said I would go out whenever they wanted. The circumstances were not given. There has to be the will of both clubs and the player. Neither year of the two that there were negotiations, the situation ended up giving. It did not happen, “Villa explained years later.
He was very close to Real Madrid. Villa himself gave the go-ahead to his representative, but Valencia did not want to sell their striker to the Madrid team. He was offered to Barcelona, who agreed to pay 40 million euros, and in the months prior to the World Cup in South Africa, the Barça club took over the services of the top scorer in the history of the Spanish team to win two Leagues, two Super Cups in Spain, a Copa del Rey, a Spanish Super Cup, a Champions League and a Club World Cup. In total, Villa contributed 48 goals in 119 official matches over three courses.
4.- THE MENISCUS THAT FRUSTRATED THE SIGNING OF LUIS SUÁREZ BY REAL MADRID
When the Uruguayan Luis Suárez stood out at Liverpool (82 goals between the 2010/11 and 2013/14 seasons), Real Madrid signed a pre-agreement (April 2014) with the Uruguayan player, who would eventually end up at Barcelona. The cause, a meniscus operation in May that did not convince Real Madrid and that almost caused Luis Suárez to miss the World Cup in Brazil. Uruguay could count on their player, who completed his transfer to Barcelona in exchange for 81 million euros. A couple of days before the World Cup final, his signing was officially announced.
5.- ASENSIO AND A FRUSTRATED PAYMENT IN INSTALLMENTS
In 2014, when Marco Asensio was 18 years old and played for Mallorca, Barcelona managed to tie, through Andoni Zubizarreta, the now Paris Saint-Germain player. It was Miguel Ángel Nadal, former Barcelona central defender, who alerted the Barça club to the quality of the talented midfielder. Zubizarreta, then sports director of the Catalan club, got down to work and reached an agreement with Mallorca for 4.5 million euros.
However, Antoni Rossich, the Barça general manager, did not see it as clear to pay that amount in cash for a promise and asked to do it in installments. Then Real Madrid appeared, alerted by Rafa Nadal, and they did agree to pay that amount in cash. Florentino Pérez personally telephoned the player and the rest is history: Asensio played seven seasons for Real Madrid and won 17 titles, including three Champions Leagues.
6.- ALVES CHOSE BARCELONA
In the summer of 2008, Real Madrid was looking for a right-back to complete their squad. The chosen one was Dani Alves, then at Sevilla. The previous season, after the Copa del Rey final that they beat Getafe at the Santiago Bernabéu, he was asked if he would like to play for the white team. The answer was clear: “That would be a wonderful reward.” Chelsea also fought for him, but Del Nido frustrated the signing for the English team.
Both argued, but Alves made peace with the Andalusian club after the tragic death of Puerta and stayed one more season at Sevilla. Real Madrid returned to the charge in the aforementioned summer of 2008, but Barcelona appeared to put 30 million euros on the table and take the Brazilian full-back. “I have never hidden the fact that practically everything was done with Madrid, but luckily I was able to go to Barcelona,” Alves acknowledged later.
7.- BUSQUETS, MASCHERANO, RAKITIC AND INIESTA STOPPED THE SIGNING OF KROOS
One of the mainstays of Real Madrid in the last decade, Toni Kroos, was about to sign for Barcelona. In fact, in the summer of 2014, when the German midfielder decided to leave Bayern Munich, the Barça club came to negotiate with the Bavarian, but in the end the operation did not come to fruition.
Luis Enrique, at that time a Barcelona coach, decided that he had all the needs covered in the midfield with Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta, Mascherano and promising youngsters like Sergi Roberto and Rafinha. In the end, Real Madrid appeared, put 25 million euros on the table and the German began a story dressed in white with which he has already won a multitude of titles, including five Champions Leagues.
8.-NEYMAR AND THE “ECOSYSTEM” OF FLORENTINO PÉREZ
It is well known that Real Madrid rejected Neymar when he was a 14-year-old boy and he went to the white house to do a test with the white team. It was 2006 and his arrival at the white club did not prosper, but years later, when he was already a star for Santos, Real Madrid did try to sign him. Florentino Pérez explained the reasons why he finally failed to bring the Brazilian: “If he could have signed him in conditions that would not alter the club’s ecosystem, he would have done so. The calculations that we have made, between everything it came out for more than 150 million euros, it would have altered everything.
It was the summer of 2013 and Neymar finally ended up at Barcelona after reaching an agreement with the player and Santos for five seasons. In those days, Josep María Bartomeu revealed that the price for the signing of Neymar was 57 million euros, but later the total price of the operation was revealed: close to 200 million euros gross. For five seasons, Neymar shone at Barcelona and before leaving for Paris Saint-Germain he won a Champions League, two Leagues and three Copas del Rey, among other titles.
9.- BUYO AND THE CALLS OF TERRY VENABLES
Before signing for Real Madrid, goalkeeper Francisco Buyo was tempted by Barcelona. When he was defending the Sevilla shirt, and after the European Cup final that the Catalan club lost against Steaua Bucharest in 1985 at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán stadium, coach Terry Venables desperately tried to sign the Galician goalkeeper: «He called me every week after losing the final of the European Cup, but in the end my destination was Real Madrid and I think I was right for all the successes achieved there,” Buyo said in 2020.
And, indeed, Ramón Mendoza, after paying 63 million at the time to Sevilla, took over the services of a goalkeeper who was 27 years old at the time and who played for the white club between the 1986/87 and 1996/97 seasons. For a decade, he was the goalkeeper who defended Real Madrid’s goal. Venables, he was left with the desire.
10.- AMANCIO AND BERNABÉU’S ‘Stubbornness’
On September 26, 1962, Santiago Bernabéu disbursed an important amount for the time to sign Amancio Amaro: he paid 10 million pesetas for the Deportivo player. The then president of Real Madrid, was determined to sign a player who would later make history despite the fact that members of the Board of Directors of the white club thought it was a waste of money. The reason for his stubbornness was clear: he was captivated by his dribbling and his ability.
However, Bernabéu had to act against the clock to get the “Wizard” signed because he received a tip that Amancio’s signing for Barcelona was going to be a matter of hours. The Barça club had emissaries who were seeing each other in a hotel with the player and managers of Deportivo. So, Bernabéu did not hesitate to quickly travel to La Coruña to meet personally with Amancio and convince him to make a decision that changed his life.
11.- GORDILLO AND A BREATH IN THE HEART
In 1985, Rafael Gordillo was already an institution at Betis. At 27 years old, the Verdiblanco left-back was a jewel that Real Madrid and Barcelona were interested in. Finally, he ended up in the white team, where he brilliantly continued his career. However, the “culé” entity was about to sign him. The then president, José Luis Núñez, stopped the operation after receiving information from the doctors of the Spanish team. Years later, he explained how the operation developed.
“I did a study of the three important players in the Spanish league with whom Madrid could be strengthened. In addition to Hugo Sánchez, another was Maceda, but here the coach said that we already had Alexanco. And the third was Gordillo. We wanted him to come but the team doctors told me that he had a small heart murmur and that one day he could give a scare on the pitch. I remember Retamero, who was the president of Betis and called me to tell me “Pepe Luis” you have to sign him, these Madrid want to take him away. And I gave him a long time, for not telling him the reason… And Gordillo signed for Madrid and see if he had a bad heart that he ran from him all his life and he still runs now, ”said Núñez. EFE
2023-07-09 03:40:11
#Top #players #Madrid #Barça #fought #Republic
