摘要：
弗洛伦蒂诺作为西班牙皇家马德里俱乐部的主席，一手打造了巨星云集的皇家马德里队。然而，在近几年里，这支由菲戈、劳尔、罗纳尔多、齐达内和贝克汉姆等众多世界级球星组成的"银河战舰"，却在多项比赛中"颗粒无收"，没有获得一项大赛的冠军。为此，俱乐部主席弗洛伦蒂诺近日无奈地选择了辞职，承认自己一直引以为豪的所谓"银河战舰"根本就不存在，所谓的球星政策也完全失败。
The emperor with the new clothes finally realised his nakedness last night. Florentino Pérez, the architect of the galáctico, football's greatest romantic or perhaps its greatest cynic, has departed Real Madrid after almost six years of triumphalism. He has at last recognised that, amid the successes, the club's failings were his too; that the wondrous football team he wore so proudly simply did not exist.

弗洛伦蒂诺作为西班牙皇家马德里俱乐部的主席，一手打造了巨星云集的皇家马德里队。然而，在近几年里，这支由菲戈、劳尔、罗纳尔多、齐达内和贝克汉姆等众多世界级球星组成的"银河战舰"，却在多项比赛中"颗粒无收"，没有获得一项大赛的冠军。为此，俱乐部主席弗洛伦蒂诺近日无奈地选择了辞职，承认自己一直引以为豪的所谓"银河战舰"根本就不存在，所谓的球星政策也完全失败。

据英国《卫报》2月28日报道，在过去的6年里，弗洛伦蒂诺一共雇用了4名足球技术总监和7名主教练。然而皇马并没有因此而"起死回生"。当弗洛伦蒂诺选择离开的时候，本赛季的皇马已经在联赛中落后老对手、西甲"领头羊"巴塞罗那队10分，而在欧洲冠军联赛八分之一比赛中，主场作战的他们更是0：1不敌英超没落"贵族"阿森纳队，出线形势岌岌可危。如果本赛季皇马再度两手空空的话，那么这将是他们连续第3个赛季"颗粒无收"，这样糟糕的情形只在1950年到53年出现过一次。

现在的皇马，由于其众多的球星加盟，可谓是历史上最著名、最豪华的一支球队。然而，就是这样的一支星光四射的球队，自弗洛伦蒂诺出任皇马主席以来，在最近的4年里，欧洲冠军联赛的成绩一年不如一年。在2001-02赛季，皇马如愿获得欧冠联赛冠军；次年，他们止步于半决赛；再后一年，他们止步于四分之一比赛，而后更是早早在八分之一比赛中就被淘汰出局。今年看来他们很有可能重蹈覆辙。

其实平心而论，任何一支球队都有可能在一个赛季或更长一段时间里望冠军奖杯兴叹。巴塞罗那队就曾经连续6年与冠军无缘。但当这样的事情发生在皇马，一支被寄予过多厚望的球队身上时，厚望与失败之间的巨大落差还是让人们难以接受现实。

在皇马效力多年的巴西前锋罗纳尔多从来也没有拿过哪怕一次欧洲冠军；而他的队友贝克汉姆自2003年来到皇马以后，也是再也没有品尝过冠军的滋味。当然所有这些并不是球员的错。毋庸置疑，皇马依靠球星策略获得了商业方面的巨大成功。但众多的球迷们难道就应该为此而欢欣鼓舞吗？其实在皇马获得巨额收入的背后隐藏着的是巨额的支出，光在球员转会一项上皇马的支出就达到了惊人的2.85亿英镑。

究其失败的原因，其实是皇马自己打败了自己。球星云集的皇马就像一个由弗洛伦蒂诺本人亲手缔造的一个巨大"怪物"。球员年龄老化、自满和不服管束都是他的痼疾。此外，俱乐部过分依赖商业开发也是球队成绩不好的一个原因。每每在赛季来临之际，皇马不是在专心训练，而是在亚洲忙着"淘金"。在这支球队中，主力球员知道自己永远都是主力，而那些打不上球的球员也明白自己永远没有机会。在这里，"无名小辈"的价值永远不被承认。

"就好像只有那些巨星才是这支球队中有血有肉的人。"一位一线球员对此现象愤愤不平。而在近3年里上任的6名主教练，无一例外地都被架空了权利。雷蒙当年曾经在一次比赛中让罗纳尔多坐在冷板凳上，结果得到了俱乐部主席弗洛伦蒂诺一顿劈头盖脸地"臭骂" ："让罗纳尔多坐冷板凳，你以为你是谁呀！"对此雷蒙的回答也很干脆："教练。"当然结果是，没过几天雷蒙的身份就变成了前任主教练。

在去年11月当皇马在联赛中遭巴塞罗那队大比分羞辱时，一位皇马球员私下、但却发自肺腑地表示"皇马已经没有了灵魂"。但或许没有了"灵魂"的皇马将"凤凰涅磐"重新成为一支真正的足球俱乐部，不管怎样皇马巨星时代应该已经结束。

（国际在线独家资讯 张海山）

The emperor with the new clothes finally realised his nakedness last night. Florentino Pérez, the architect of the galáctico, football's greatest romantic or perhaps its greatest cynic, has departed Real Madrid after almost six years of triumphalism. He has at last recognised that, amid the successes, the club's failings were his too; that the wondrous football team he wore so proudly simply did not exist.

Under Pérez, Real Madrid loudly proclaimed themselves the greatest club in the world; over the last three years, the reality made a mockery of such hubris. The man crawlingly referred to as "a superior being" by vice-president Emilio Butrague?o has finally turned the blame on himself, having employed four directors of football and seven coaches.

Pérez departs with Real Madrid 10 points adrift in the league, out of the Copa del Rey and on a knife-edge in the Champions League. Should Madrid finish the year empty-handed, it would be their third successive season without a major trophy - the first time they would have endured such a drought since 1950-53.

In the last four years under Pérez, they have steadily slipped back in the Champions League, too: winners in 2001-02, semi-finalists the year after, then quarters, then last 16, Madrid's worst performance since the competition was re-formed in 1995. This year they are on the verge of going out at the same stage. And all that despite the galácticos, despite building the most ludicrously talented team in history - certainly the most famous team in history.

But a president who thinks he knows best is asking for trouble, here more than anywhere.

Anyone else can go a season or two trophy-free - Bar?a did it for six long years - but not Madrid. Not when their supposed superiority is thrust so wilfully down throats. It was no coincidence that the rest of Spain so gleefully revelled in Madrid's defeat in the 2002 Cup final - a final held at the Bernabéu on their 100th birthday. Madrid's celebrations that year saw them visit the Pope, the King and the United Nations. By the end of this year, they will have featured in four feature films and gone on three world tours. For a while, they seemed worth it: when a Fifa World XI faced Madrid to celebrate their centenary, the home side had the better team. But the successes, aided by a media that was often willing to serve and on occasion scared not to, were exaggerated.

Ronaldo has never won the European Cup, David Beckham has not won anything since arriving in 2003. The England captain cannot be blamed, but that was the beginning of the end. Sure, Madrid have increased income enormously, but how many fans gather to celebrate a great bank balance? And, besides, huge income has come at the cost of huge outlay - ?285m on transfers alone, plus ?4m a season per galáctico, after tax.

Madrid failed not despite the galácticos, but because of them. Pérez created an unmanageable monster, a satiated, divided squad of ageing players, a club where marketing ranks ahead of meritocracy. Where tours of the Far East take precedence over pre-season training, where those who play know they will play come what may and those that do not, know they will not; where the non-galácticos are consciously undervalued.

A huge poster on the side of the Bernabéu used to show the galácticos in various action poses. "It's as if they're the only bloody people at the club," one first-teamer remarked sadly. Coaches, of whom there had been six in less than three years, were stripped of all authority. When Mariano García Remón left Ronaldo on the bench, Pérez asked him: "Who do you think you are to leave Ronaldo out?" García Rémon replied: "The coach." Within days, he was the ex-coach. Too many players simply do not care and those that do care grow more and more frustrated. "This club has lost its soul," one first-teamer privately insisted after Madrid were defeated by Barcelona in November. Now it has lost its emperor. The galactic era is over. Maybe now Real Madrid can become a football team once more.

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