2002 - 2003 European season review May 19, 2003

Real Madrid

With another season coming to an end in Europe, let's look at a few clubs and analyze their season.

Real Madrid, those same giants of European soccer, started their season with another super star signing, Brazilian World Cup winner Ronaldo. Real Madrid continued their policy of signing stars without any thought to actual need. Real ofcourse already had more than the required number of offensive weapons, even more than is needed for a busy and grueling European season. Morientes, Raul, Guti, and the youngster Portillo would usually be more than adequate in front of the likes of Zidane and Figo but Ronaldo duly quit Inter Milan to join Real and provide Madrid with more offensive weapons than any coach would ever dare to dream.
The highly successful coach, Vicente Del Bosque, vowed that he could find a place for all the assembled players and after an unsurprising slow start due to various injuries and possibly a World Cup 'hang-over' Madrid stormed their way back to the top of the Spanish La Liga and the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Not all is well at Madrid however, following several terrible defensive lapses where they conceded 20 goals in a five game span including five in a defeat to La Liga strugglers Mallorca and four away to Manchester United in the Champions League quarter finals. The offensive fire power allowed them to advance to the Champions League semis but another poor defensive effort led to their exit at the hands of newly crowned Serie A champions Juventus. The defense led by an aging Hierro has escaped the worst behind the club's offensive prowess but needs to be strengthened otherwise Madrid won't do as well next season.
Amid the barrage of rumours linking David Beckham to the club year after year it may be time to for Madrid to finally buy the quality defensemen it apparently can afford, names like Ajax's Romanian star Cristian Chivu, Monaco's under-rated Mexican Rafael Marquez, or the young French hope Philippe Mexes would all ensure that Real will have a more balanced core of stars capable of doing even better. Also one should spare a thought for the forgotten Morientes, a 27 year old top quality international forward sitting on the bench in Madrid. He will be well served to leave to a team that is willing to provide him with room to shine but it seems likely that he will stay and patiently wait for more opportunities

AC Milan, another of the giants of European football, started the season with two late sigining in Lazio's Italian international defender Alessandro Nesta and Brazil's World Cup winner Rivaldo. Nesta arrived because his old club Lazio desperately needed to offload some high priced players in a bid to overcome near bankruptcy, Rivaldo parted company with Barcelona immediately after it was announced that Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal was returning there for a second head coaching stint.
The two arrivals signaled the teams eagerness to regain their position at the top of the European footballing 'fraternity'. They stormed their way into the season, led by the prolific forward Filippo Inzaghi, shot their way to the top of their Champions league group and coach Carlo Ancelotti surprised many by adopting an offensive system that made full use of the attacking talent at his disposal. Milan featured starting line-ups that included Rivaldo, Inzaghi, impressive Italian international Andrea Pirlo and Portuguese playmaker Rui Costa. The coach showed that he can make the system work despite his refusal to be so adventurous at his earlier coaching stints with Parma and Juventus.
However as the 2003 calendar year started Milan had cooled off considerably, several disappointing results against serie A minnows later and the chance of winning the league title was lost. Milan managed to make their way to the Champions league final not having won by more than a single goal in any of their Champions League games since November.
Rivaldo has had a most disappointing season and doesn't even feature in the starting line-up. Personal problems have been cited as the reason, Ukranian star Shevchenko has never regained his form of two seasons ago and continues to miss easy chances and despite scoring the goal, against city rivals Inter, that ensured a place in the Champions league final his finishing has been horrendous.
Milan need to learn to play more consistently and make use of the vast advantage in possession that they enjoy in most games. Young players to provide depth and cover for several positions should be their priority. The defense led by aging stars Paolo Maldini and Alesssandro Costacurta needs adequate cover. The often-benched Danish international Martin Laursen and the injury plagued Brazilian Roque Junior do provide the depth but the feeling is that coach Ancelotti prefers to have other defenders at the club. The forwards also require one more quality backup as Inzaghi-Shevchenko-Rivaldo and the ex -Feyenoord forward Jon Dahl Tomasson are simply not enough bodies for a long European campaign.
This season featured one happy note for Milan and other football fans as the ex-Real Madrid Argentinean Fernando Redondo finally returned to action years after suffering a career threatening injury.

In the next installment of the season review we continue our look at more top European clubs.
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