Beckham, Ronaldinho and the fall of Florentino Pérez's Real Madrid

In three years Florentino Pérez had brought Luís Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo to Real Madrid, and the club had won two league titles and the 2002 Champions League. On 17 June 2003 Madrid agreed a deal with Manchester United for David Beckham.

The fourth Galáctico

The fee was €25 million, with up to €10 million more depending on how Madrid did in the Champions League. "I really want to play in the Champions League," Beckham said. "I know that I will always regret it later in life if I had turned down the chance to play at another great club like Real Madrid."

He was unveiled at the Bernabéu on 2 July and presented with the number 23 shirt by Alfredo Di Stéfano. Beckham talked about "running out with Real Madrid and these sort of players and this team in front of 90,000 fans". His new coach was Carlos Queiroz, a former Manchester United assistant manager.

Barcelona had wanted him too. Joan Laporta, then running for Barcelona's presidency, had an agreement with United to buy Beckham if he won the election. Beckham has said that if he was going to be sold to Spain, "it had to be to Real Madrid". Laporta later said United had "used us and in the end he signed for Madrid". He added: "We got fed up of waiting on an answer, so we signed Ronaldinho instead." Ronaldinho joined Barcelona from Paris Saint-Germain on 20 July 2003.

Selling the shirt

Madrid were to receive half of Beckham's image-rights income, and orders for shirts on the club's website broke records. In August the squad toured Asia: Beijing, Tokyo, where Beckham scored against FC Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok. In Thailand, Beckham almost disappeared under flower garlands from the officials who greeted him. Ronaldo, Zidane and Figo got a couple of orchid necklaces each.

Not everything went to plan. Chinese officials were left bewildered when the players walked out of a dinner reception after 20 minutes. In Hong Kong the club cancelled a training session and then had to apologise when players were seen in the island's most popular nightclubs.

Deloitte's Money League had Manchester United top for revenue in 2003–04, with Madrid second. In 2004–05 Madrid overtook them, with €275.7 million, and they stayed top in 2005–06.

Zidanes y Pavones

Pérez's promise had been a team of "Zidanes y Pavones": superstars such as Zidane alongside graduates of the club's academy such as Francisco Pavón, a central defender. In the summer of 2003 Fernando Hierro, Steve McManaman and Claude Makélélé left, and Fernando Morientes went to Monaco on loan. Between them the four had made 131 appearances the season before. The academy players who replaced them, among them Pavón, Raúl Bravo and Javier Portillo, struggled. As Football365 later put it, Pérez's first spell "saw many Zidanes arriving at the Bernabéu, but not many Pavones breaking through."

Queiroz's season

It started well. Madrid won the Supercopa, beating Mallorca, and lost only two league matches in the first half of the season. By late February they were eight points clear of Valencia with 12 games left.

Then it came apart. On 17 March 2004 they played Real Zaragoza in the Copa del Rey final at Montjuïc, in Barcelona. Beckham and Roberto Carlos both scored from free-kicks for Madrid, and Dani and a David Villa penalty scored for Zaragoza. Zaragoza had Cani sent off, and Madrid had Guti sent off in extra time. Galletti won it 3–2 for Zaragoza in the 111th minute. Madrid had been chasing a treble.

In the Champions League quarter-final Madrid beat Monaco 4–2 at the Bernabéu, but one of Monaco's goals came from Morientes. In Monaco on 6 April Raúl put Madrid ahead, and then Giuly scored twice and Morientes once. It was 5–5 on aggregate, and Monaco went through on away goals.

On 25 April Barcelona won at the Bernabéu, ending a run of eight matches without a win against Madrid. Madrid lost each of their last five league games, the last of them 4–1 to Real Sociedad. Valencia won the title with 77 points. Barcelona, who had been 12th halfway through the season and then won nine in a row under Frank Rijkaard, were second. Madrid finished fourth with 70.

On 24 May Pérez announced that Queiroz would not continue. He admitted the club had "made a mistake" in hiring him. "We are a reference for football around the world," he said, "and we cannot endure another season like this."

Three coaches in a season

José Antonio Camacho, a former Madrid player and Spain coach, replaced Queiroz. That summer Madrid signed Michael Owen from Liverpool. They also signed Walter Samuel from Roma and Jonathan Woodgate, injured, from Newcastle United. In July Pérez was re-elected.

Camacho lasted six games. After a 3–0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League and a 1–0 loss at Espanyol, for which he left out Raúl and Beckham, he resigned on 20 September 2004. The former goalkeeper Mariano García Remón took over and was sacked at Christmas. Vanderlei Luxemburgo was appointed on 30 December.

Juventus knocked Madrid out of the Champions League in the last 16, winning 2–0 after extra time in the second leg to go through 2–1 on aggregate. Under Luxemburgo, Madrid finished second in the league with 80 points. Barcelona won it with 84.

"It was a strange season for us, as we changed coaches three times," said Samuel, who joined Inter in August 2005. Owen had scored 16 goals in 45 games, and by the end of that month he had gone to Newcastle.

Robinho, Baptista and Woodgate

Madrid signed Robinho, 21, from Santos, and Júlio Baptista, 23, from Sevilla, where they also found Sergio Ramos.

On 22 September 2005 Woodgate played his first game for 17 months, against Athletic Bilbao. After 25 minutes he scored an own goal with a diving header, and in the second half he was sent off for a second booking. Madrid still won. "First game: red card and an own goal," he said years later.

Ronaldinho at the Bernabéu

At Barcelona, Ronaldinho was FIFA World Player of the Year in 2004 and 2005 and won the Ballon d'Or in 2005.

On 19 November 2005 Barcelona won 3–0 at the Bernabéu. Samuel Eto'o scored after 14 minutes from a pass by the 18-year-old Lionel Messi, playing his first Clásico. Ronaldinho scored the other two, after 59 and 77 minutes, cutting in from the left both times. Madrid supporters stood to applaud him. "I will never forget this," Ronaldinho said, "because it is very rare for any footballer to be applauded in this way by the opposition fans."

Two weeks later, after a 1–0 home win over Getafe, Luxemburgo was sacked. "The team were not living up to expectations and that worried both us and the fans," said Emilio Butragueño for the board. Luxemburgo was Madrid's fifth coach in two and a half years. Juan Ramón López Caro was promoted from the club's youth set-up.

February 2006

On 8 February Madrid went to La Romareda for the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final and lost 6–1. Diego Milito scored a hat-trick in less than 20 minutes of the first half and added a fourth, and Ewerthon scored twice. "It was a unique night for me," Milito said. Madrid won the second leg 4–0 and went out 6–5 on aggregate.

In the Champions League last 16 Arsenal won 1–0 at the Bernabéu, Thierry Henry scoring two minutes after half-time. On 26 February Madrid lost 2–1 at Mallorca. They were third in the league, 10 points behind Barcelona.

The next day, Monday 27 February, Pérez resigned. "I believe the club need a change of direction and as a result, I have decided to resign," he said. "We had tried changing coaches several times and that didn't seem to work, so the only other option left was for me to leave." He also said: "Los jugadores están confundidos y quizá demasiado consentidos. He cometido un error. He maleducado a los jugadores." (The players are confused and perhaps too pampered. I have made a mistake. I have spoiled the players.)

The board accepted unanimously, and the vice-president Fernando Martín took over. López Caro said: "We have let down the club, the supporters and the shirt." Ronaldo said Pérez was "the only one that defended me", and Beckham: "What he has done for the club is incredible, he has to be congratulated on that."

After Pérez

Madrid finished the season second, 12 points behind Barcelona, and López Caro left without a trophy. On 17 May 2006 Barcelona beat Arsenal 2–1 at the Stade de France to win the Champions League.

By then Zidane had made up his mind. On 25 April, with a year left on his contract, he told Canal+ that he would retire after the World Cup. "In the last two years the results have eluded us," he said. "When you don't reach your goals you ask yourself questions. I know I can't do better than what I have already done and at my age, it's getting more and more difficult. I didn't want to experience another year like the ones I've been through."