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Top 10 Worst Moments Of The Decade In Spanish Football
As the first ten years of the 21st century draws to a close, Goal.com’s Cyrus C. Malek counts down the ten worst events of the past decade.
Dec 29, 2009 2:13:11 AM
10. Spain’s Early Exit From Euro 2004
At Euro 2004, Spain were drawn into group A with hosts Portugal, Russia and Greece (behind whom Spain had finished second in qualifying). In their opening match of the tournament, Spain defeated Russia 1–0, but in their second match were only able to salvage a 1–1 draw with Greece. In their final match of the group stage against Portugal, Spain failed to secure the draw they needed and, while they finished with an identical record to second-place Greece, did not progress to the knockout stage because of a lower number of goals scored. Coach Iñaki Sáez was subsequently sacked and replaced by Luis Aragonés who, in turn, would go on to give Spain one of its best moments of the past decade.
9. Fernando Torres’ exit from Atletico de Madrid to Liverpool
Born and raised in a Madrid working-class neighbourhood, Atletico de Madrid’s Golden Boy, Fernando Torres, was the pride and joy of Madrid’s south side and the Rojiblanco hope to rise to both Liga and European glory. But even El Niño was unable to break Atletico’s curse of perennial underachievement and when Torres finally announced that he would seek to play his football elsewhere (vying for the Premiership where he would not have been painted as a traitor to his former club), few Atletico fans harboured resentment toward their idol, implicitly admitting that he would not be able to achieve his goals with the Atleti. Nonetheless, even with Sergio ‘Kun’ Aguero in the Atletico squad (although it also looks as if he, too, will soon be on his way out) the Rojiblancos have yet to recover from the loss of their beloved Fernando.
8. Valencia’s Fall From Grace
For the first half of the 21st century’s first decade, Valencia enjoyed its status as one of not only Spain’s but also Europe’s best teams, consistently near the top of the Liga table and making waves in the Champions League. But in 2007, after the sacking of Quique Sanchez Flores, all of that changed. With the appointment of Ronald Koeman as coach, Valencia dropped like a stone to 15th place in the table (just two points above the relegation zone). While Los Che were able to win the club’s 7th Copa del Rey title, Koeman was sacked and Valencia finished a dreadful season in 10th place…and then the global financial crisis struck and Valencia were inundated with a mountain of debt that halted construction of Valencia’s new stadium and threatened to force the club into selling its top players. With a change of club leadership, Los Che were able to refinance their debt. However, they are still not completely out of the woods and it remains to be seen whether Valencia’s liabilities will catch up with them.
7. Real Madrid’s five-year-in-a-row exit in the last 16 of the CL
For the Best Club of the 20th century, the 21st century began just as the last one had ended: with European titles. Real Madrid became the most successful club in history, winning their record 9th European championship in 2002. But since, Los Blancos have shed their reputation of European notoriety, being knocked out of the Champions League in first round of the knockout stage in each of the past five seasons. Many hope that Madrid will be able to secure the elusive Decima this year with Florentino Perez and his neo-Galacticos back in business.
6. Ronaldinho’s ruin at Barcelona
The world had never seen a player like Ronaldinho, a Brazilian with a particularly musical interpretation of football and one of the only players to receive a standing ovation after demolishing Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabeu. But Ronaldinho’s demise at Barcelona in 2007 remains one of the most lamentable deteriorations that has ever been suffered by one of the world’s greatest players. To this day, the source of the Brazilian’s epic loss of form remains unclear. Some say it was his frosty relationship with coach Frank Rijkaard while others believe Barca were keen to let their own starlet, Lionel Messi, take the reigns and purposefully mismanaged the player. Still others blame the midfield wizard’s lack of self-control, penchant for partying, and ever-expanding waistline. Whatever the real reason, the Brazilian has since been a shell of his former self and many are left scratching their heads wondering what really happened to the toothy smile and Samba style at the Camp Nou.
5. Spain ‘robbed’ by refereeing errors in the 2002 World Cup
The group stage of the 2002 World Cup went as expected for Spain as they topped a Group B consisting of Slovenia, Paraguay (both by 3-1), and South Africa (3-2). In the elimination round Spain beat the Republic of Ireland on penalties to face co-hosts Korea Republic in the quarterfinals. But controversy ensued as Spain had two goals legitimate goals disallowed by the referee and a number of other calls in which the whistle inexplicably either fell silent or was erroneously blown. Korea emerged as the victors, besting La Roja in the penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw.
4. Ramon Calderon’s vote-rigging scandal in the Real Madrid voting assembly
Ramon Calderon’s tenure as president of Real Madrid began with an end to the club’s trophy drought as Los Blancos claimed the La Liga title in the final match of the season. But in his final year as club president, the broken promise of delivering Cristiano Ronaldo to the Spanish capital paled in comparison to the dishonor that led to the president’s exit from the club. In early 2009, allegations of vote rigging in an assembly of club members for the confirmation of the financial budget was broken by Spanish sports daily Marca. The scandal was very highly publicized by the Spanish press as more and more convincing evidence was brought forward to expose the fraud that by the end of the month, Calderon was forced to resign from his position.
3. The death of Espanyol captain Dani Jarque
The 2009 season began in mourning after Espanyol’s captain Dani Jarque was found dead after suffering a heart attack during Espanyol’s preseason trip to Florence, Italy. Jarque was reportedly on the phone with his girlfriend (who was seven months into the couple’s first pregnancy) in the team hotel when he suffered the heart attack. The authorities were quickly called and Jarque was rushed to the hospital, but doctors were unable to revive him and he died.
2. The death of Sevilla’s Antonio Puerta
On August 25, 2007, Sevilla’s young star Antonio Puerta sent shockwaves through Spain and the rest of the world as he collapsed and lost consciousness in the penalty area due to a cardiac arrest during Sevilla's first match of the 2007–08 season at the Sánchez Pizjuán against Getafe. Team-mates Ivica Dragutinović and Andrés Palop immediately ran to his side and ‘Drago’ even reportedly pulled Puerta’s tongue out of the back of his mouth to keep him from swallowing it and choking to death. Puerta temporarily recovered and was substituted (able to walk under his own power), but collapsed once again in the dressing room. He was resuscitated by the doctors and taken, by ambulance to hospital, where he received cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Puerta died on August 28, 2007 after suffering multiple organ failure and irreversible brain damage as a result of multiple prolonged cardiac arrests. The condition he was officially diagnosed with was an incurable, hereditary heart disease known as arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. Similar to Dani Jarque, Puerta’s girlfriend was expecting their first child at the time of his death.
1. Racism in Spanish football
The principal issue that Spain has faced over the past decade has been the denigration of players on the grounds of race. Some of the most well-recalled incidents involve abuse of Cameroonian goalkeeper Carlos Kameni by some of Espanyol’s own fans and the infamous incident involving a match between Barcelona and Zaragoza in which Zaragoza’s home fans jeered Barca striker Samuel Eto’o with monkey noises to the point that the Cameroonian began to walk off the pitch, visibly saying “Ya no voy a jugar más” (I am not going to play anymore). While his teammates convinced Eto’o to continue the match, the incident remains one of the most shockingly abhorrent demonstrations of racial prejudice in sport. Racism has been curbed in Spain, the most recent event occurring during a Spanish national team training session before the 2006 World Cup when Spain coach Luis Aragones could be overheard referring to France’s Thierry Henry as a “black shit”. The Spanish football federation has since taken a zero-tolerance policy with respect to such incidents but the issue continues to be a stain on Spain’s reputation not just in terms of football, but also as a nation. Last year, England refused to play Spain at the Bernabeu in an international friendly match because of previous racism, but the makeup venue in Sevilla took place without incident. As such, there is a growing sentiment that such xenophobic ideologies are well and truly fading in Spain, only shared by a small, inexcusably intolerant minority.
Cyrus C. Malek, Goal.com
For more on Spain click ahead to Goal.com's Spain homepage!
At Euro 2004, Spain were drawn into group A with hosts Portugal, Russia and Greece (behind whom Spain had finished second in qualifying). In their opening match of the tournament, Spain defeated Russia 1–0, but in their second match were only able to salvage a 1–1 draw with Greece. In their final match of the group stage against Portugal, Spain failed to secure the draw they needed and, while they finished with an identical record to second-place Greece, did not progress to the knockout stage because of a lower number of goals scored. Coach Iñaki Sáez was subsequently sacked and replaced by Luis Aragonés who, in turn, would go on to give Spain one of its best moments of the past decade.
9. Fernando Torres’ exit from Atletico de Madrid to Liverpool
Born and raised in a Madrid working-class neighbourhood, Atletico de Madrid’s Golden Boy, Fernando Torres, was the pride and joy of Madrid’s south side and the Rojiblanco hope to rise to both Liga and European glory. But even El Niño was unable to break Atletico’s curse of perennial underachievement and when Torres finally announced that he would seek to play his football elsewhere (vying for the Premiership where he would not have been painted as a traitor to his former club), few Atletico fans harboured resentment toward their idol, implicitly admitting that he would not be able to achieve his goals with the Atleti. Nonetheless, even with Sergio ‘Kun’ Aguero in the Atletico squad (although it also looks as if he, too, will soon be on his way out) the Rojiblancos have yet to recover from the loss of their beloved Fernando.
8. Valencia’s Fall From Grace
For the first half of the 21st century’s first decade, Valencia enjoyed its status as one of not only Spain’s but also Europe’s best teams, consistently near the top of the Liga table and making waves in the Champions League. But in 2007, after the sacking of Quique Sanchez Flores, all of that changed. With the appointment of Ronald Koeman as coach, Valencia dropped like a stone to 15th place in the table (just two points above the relegation zone). While Los Che were able to win the club’s 7th Copa del Rey title, Koeman was sacked and Valencia finished a dreadful season in 10th place…and then the global financial crisis struck and Valencia were inundated with a mountain of debt that halted construction of Valencia’s new stadium and threatened to force the club into selling its top players. With a change of club leadership, Los Che were able to refinance their debt. However, they are still not completely out of the woods and it remains to be seen whether Valencia’s liabilities will catch up with them.
7. Real Madrid’s five-year-in-a-row exit in the last 16 of the CL
For the Best Club of the 20th century, the 21st century began just as the last one had ended: with European titles. Real Madrid became the most successful club in history, winning their record 9th European championship in 2002. But since, Los Blancos have shed their reputation of European notoriety, being knocked out of the Champions League in first round of the knockout stage in each of the past five seasons. Many hope that Madrid will be able to secure the elusive Decima this year with Florentino Perez and his neo-Galacticos back in business.
6. Ronaldinho’s ruin at Barcelona
The world had never seen a player like Ronaldinho, a Brazilian with a particularly musical interpretation of football and one of the only players to receive a standing ovation after demolishing Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabeu. But Ronaldinho’s demise at Barcelona in 2007 remains one of the most lamentable deteriorations that has ever been suffered by one of the world’s greatest players. To this day, the source of the Brazilian’s epic loss of form remains unclear. Some say it was his frosty relationship with coach Frank Rijkaard while others believe Barca were keen to let their own starlet, Lionel Messi, take the reigns and purposefully mismanaged the player. Still others blame the midfield wizard’s lack of self-control, penchant for partying, and ever-expanding waistline. Whatever the real reason, the Brazilian has since been a shell of his former self and many are left scratching their heads wondering what really happened to the toothy smile and Samba style at the Camp Nou.
5. Spain ‘robbed’ by refereeing errors in the 2002 World Cup
The group stage of the 2002 World Cup went as expected for Spain as they topped a Group B consisting of Slovenia, Paraguay (both by 3-1), and South Africa (3-2). In the elimination round Spain beat the Republic of Ireland on penalties to face co-hosts Korea Republic in the quarterfinals. But controversy ensued as Spain had two goals legitimate goals disallowed by the referee and a number of other calls in which the whistle inexplicably either fell silent or was erroneously blown. Korea emerged as the victors, besting La Roja in the penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw.
4. Ramon Calderon’s vote-rigging scandal in the Real Madrid voting assembly
Ramon Calderon’s tenure as president of Real Madrid began with an end to the club’s trophy drought as Los Blancos claimed the La Liga title in the final match of the season. But in his final year as club president, the broken promise of delivering Cristiano Ronaldo to the Spanish capital paled in comparison to the dishonor that led to the president’s exit from the club. In early 2009, allegations of vote rigging in an assembly of club members for the confirmation of the financial budget was broken by Spanish sports daily Marca. The scandal was very highly publicized by the Spanish press as more and more convincing evidence was brought forward to expose the fraud that by the end of the month, Calderon was forced to resign from his position.
3. The death of Espanyol captain Dani Jarque
The 2009 season began in mourning after Espanyol’s captain Dani Jarque was found dead after suffering a heart attack during Espanyol’s preseason trip to Florence, Italy. Jarque was reportedly on the phone with his girlfriend (who was seven months into the couple’s first pregnancy) in the team hotel when he suffered the heart attack. The authorities were quickly called and Jarque was rushed to the hospital, but doctors were unable to revive him and he died.
2. The death of Sevilla’s Antonio Puerta
On August 25, 2007, Sevilla’s young star Antonio Puerta sent shockwaves through Spain and the rest of the world as he collapsed and lost consciousness in the penalty area due to a cardiac arrest during Sevilla's first match of the 2007–08 season at the Sánchez Pizjuán against Getafe. Team-mates Ivica Dragutinović and Andrés Palop immediately ran to his side and ‘Drago’ even reportedly pulled Puerta’s tongue out of the back of his mouth to keep him from swallowing it and choking to death. Puerta temporarily recovered and was substituted (able to walk under his own power), but collapsed once again in the dressing room. He was resuscitated by the doctors and taken, by ambulance to hospital, where he received cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Puerta died on August 28, 2007 after suffering multiple organ failure and irreversible brain damage as a result of multiple prolonged cardiac arrests. The condition he was officially diagnosed with was an incurable, hereditary heart disease known as arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. Similar to Dani Jarque, Puerta’s girlfriend was expecting their first child at the time of his death.
1. Racism in Spanish football
The principal issue that Spain has faced over the past decade has been the denigration of players on the grounds of race. Some of the most well-recalled incidents involve abuse of Cameroonian goalkeeper Carlos Kameni by some of Espanyol’s own fans and the infamous incident involving a match between Barcelona and Zaragoza in which Zaragoza’s home fans jeered Barca striker Samuel Eto’o with monkey noises to the point that the Cameroonian began to walk off the pitch, visibly saying “Ya no voy a jugar más” (I am not going to play anymore). While his teammates convinced Eto’o to continue the match, the incident remains one of the most shockingly abhorrent demonstrations of racial prejudice in sport. Racism has been curbed in Spain, the most recent event occurring during a Spanish national team training session before the 2006 World Cup when Spain coach Luis Aragones could be overheard referring to France’s Thierry Henry as a “black shit”. The Spanish football federation has since taken a zero-tolerance policy with respect to such incidents but the issue continues to be a stain on Spain’s reputation not just in terms of football, but also as a nation. Last year, England refused to play Spain at the Bernabeu in an international friendly match because of previous racism, but the makeup venue in Sevilla took place without incident. As such, there is a growing sentiment that such xenophobic ideologies are well and truly fading in Spain, only shared by a small, inexcusably intolerant minority.
Cyrus C. Malek, Goal.com
For more on Spain click ahead to Goal.com's Spain homepage!
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