When Florentino Perez was elected Real Madrid’s President, people expected a return to the Galacticos era. However Perez blew everyone’s expectations away when in 72 hours he announced he had managed to sign Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka. The ensuing transfer window was filled with more players being bought. Xabi Alonso, Alvaro Arbeloa, Karim Benzema, Granero and Raul Albiol followed and strengthened the squad.

After spending nearly 250 million Euros in the transfer window, the pressure on the squad was sky high. That is saying something since there are very few teams which have to cope with the intense media scrutiny and pressure like Real Madrid have to withstand. 

And when you add in the fact that the eternal enemies, Barcelona, had just won 6 trophies in one calendar year the expectations were to not just better that, but also do it while playing champagne football.

Failure to progress from the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League and elimination at the hands of Alconcoron in the Kings Cup led to the media labeling the Neo-Galacticos a failure.

However the season has not been as big a disaster as is being painted out by the Madrid media. One look at the statistics of Real Madrid paints a very different picture.

Two of Madrid’s players C.Ronaldo and Higuain are among the top scorers in La Liga. Madrid has won a phenomenal 29 matches this season in the League and they still have 3 matches to play. Another thing is that Madrid has scored more goals than Barcelona having racked up a cool 92 goals.

It would be premature to label the Neo-Galacticos as a failure considering the fact that before winning 6 trophies last year, Barcelona had to suffer the ignominy of giving a guard of honour to the Real Madrid Squad in the El Clasico in the 2008 season. If Real Madrid goes another season without a trophy then the current squad can be labeled a failure.

  However, it must be kept in mind that nearly half of the current first team is made of new players and it takes time and a lot of patience to gel and form into the cohesive unit that the Madrid fans are expecting from the team. In Manuel Pellegrini, Madrid have a very astute tactician who managed to take Villareal consistently to the UEFA Champions League Knockout stage. And contrary to what might seem at first glance, Real Madrid has one of the strongest squads in Europe. 

Very few teams come close to the depth and quality of the Real Madrid squad. Patience is the key for Real Madrid, rather than dumping Pellegrini they should give him the time and the freedom he requires to deliver