Champions League - Platini slams 'abnormal' Real

Eurosport - Thu, 02 Jul 14:41:00 2009

UEFA president Michel Platini has slammed Real Madrid's spending spree, saying the sums of money paid for players are "not normal" and questioning whether they actually have the money.

FOOTBALL 2009 Michel Platini Uefa - 0

Real took their recent spending to around 215 million euros when they signed French striker Karim Benzema from Lyon.

Benzema will follow Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo, Brazilian playmaker Kaka and Spanish defender Raul Albiol to the Bernabeu Stadium.

"Does the club making such enormous transfers have the money or not?," Platini asked in L'Equipe.

"The Ronaldo transfer, personally, puts a question to me, but then, if Real has a guarantee from banks...

"Personally, I can't understand that you can spend 90 million euros on a player," Platini added.

"But I remember the transfer of (Diego) Maradona from Barcelona to Napoli (in 1984). It must have been for the equivalent of 6.5 million euros and people already found it indecent.

"I think there's something not normal in there. I don't like all that, and even less the fact that today, contracts are being signed only to be breached.

"But then again, if the clubs have the money, what can I do ?"

Reuters

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  1. Haha gotta love Man Utd fans accusing Real Madrid of­ trying the 'buy success'.

    What the feck were­ Man Utd doing from the early 1970s to the early 1990s.­ They t5ried to 'buy' the league year in year­ out, but failed.

    The likes of Van Nistelrooy, Veron,­ Ferdinand, Rooney, Berbatov etc etc all came on free­ transfers did they?

    Too funny, Mancs.

    From Kim S, on Sun 5 Jul 10:29AM

  2. So what? Madrid are like the kid at school who had all­ the panini stickers cos they bought the missing ones­ off everyone else - no respect then, none due now.­

    UTD & Barca are a mix of bought & home grown,­ of scouted & youth. Carefully crafted balanced­ teams designed to play for each other & to work for­ each other.

    RM = Right Mash up. Prediction on their­ day they will be brilliant but most of the time will be­ an arm waving, falling over & ego contest. New­ manager by end of March....!

    From Champions, on Sun 5 Jul 8:46AM

  3. Where are Napoli today?

    From fraserdigby, on Sun 5 Jul 4:03AM

  4. HAhaha Madrid i love you guys!! everyone is jelous!­ haha, Real is the best team, every player wants to join­ them! muhahaha hala madrid!

    From chechenr, on Sat 4 Jul 4:03PM

  5. The poison frog strikes again - last season it was­ English clubs - now its the Spanish - I have an idea -­ everyone throw their matches in the ECL and then Lyon­ can win it maybe that would keep the dwarf happy - then­ when he gets promoted to FIFA we can arrange it that­ France win the World cup

    From trevor.wightman, on Sat 4 Jul 11:03AM

  6. Real is gonna have real financial problems because they­ won't have results.

    From Radu, on Sat 4 Jul 8:42AM

  7. comment #9 is realy nice, I have the same idea and­ there is no doubt that real's strategy really­ works. who would not like to play for Real? think­ again...

    From First L, on Fri 3 Jul 11:16AM

  8. Madrid are trying to 'BUY' success. I hope for­ the sake of football they fall flat on their ar@e. They­ are a bunch of aristicratic losers who can't­ develop and keep any players of their own.

    From Peter, on Fri 3 Jul 10:33AM

  9. If idiots would stop paying their hard earned money to­ watch these overpaid prima donnas - that would be the­ end of it all - you are all to blame.

    From ten2oneplus, on Fri 3 Jul 9:10AM

  10. to iron maiden..and actually michel platini does­ 'biased' to the english teams because he does­ not cut off the policy that english teams can sign­ contracts with players from overseas at 16 years of­ age..not like spain or italy that is limited to 18 only­ to eligible for signing a contract..think­ positive..eric abidal was sent off right before the­ last goal..do u think the bribing u accused will going­ 'smoothly' if the referee sent off abidal while­ barca is trailing chelsea 1-0?? the referee should not­ sent off abidal because anelka tripped himself..but­ maybe chelsea bribed the referee during break time to­ sent off one of barca players..but unfortunately it is­ iniesta's goal that make the difference..

    From Fazreen A, on Fri 3 Jul 8:57AM

  11. platini hates the english, he was grinning when barca­ knocked chelsea out in the semis last year (he paid off­ the ref imo) and was laughing when barca beat utd in­ the final. im a man utd fan and can see someone who was­ a great footballer turned to be not a great president.­ hes just an admin man now.

    From iron maiden, on Fri 3 Jul 8:17AM

  12. Real get the money from the city and thats got to be­ illegal but its Real they seem to get away with it and­ they been doin it for years so them players cost the­ club nothing thats why they the richest

    From Holiday, on Fri 3 Jul 8:14AM

  13. Platini might actually have a point...

    From JD, on Fri 3 Jul 8:02AM

  14. of course every one is bashing at REAL MADRID..
    they­ are ruining football..
    it looks that they want to go to­ Madrid for MONEY...
    zzzzzzzz....

    UEFA should've­ put a transfer cap a long time ago..
    now they are­ slamming Madrid??
    they are just riding the­ current...
    zzzzzzz...

    From Ken, on Fri 3 Jul 7:52AM

  15. platini is interfering too much,that is how he set up­ barca vs man.utd final becos he wanted that,platini­ will kill europe football if he continues on this path

    From uchdido, on Fri 3 Jul 7:33AM

  16. You don't need the money, you just have to be able­ to manage the debt.

    From Leigh, on Fri 3 Jul 4:28AM

  17. When will ppl stop bashin Real Madrid and wake the F*ck­ up?

    Platini is nothing but a hypocrite. UEFA­ should've put a cap on salary and trnasfer window­ spending 14-15 yrs ago.
    If they haven't done it­ yet, then they are the ones to blame.
    Real Madrid are­ just doing what they are allowed to do.
    But a salary­ cap on every club in europe, introduce transfer window­ spending limits, approve the 6+5 rule and then­ we'll see if any club dares to break these­ rules.

    UEFA has the power to put a stop to all this­ nonsense.... if they won't do it...then don't­ bash the clubs. They have the money and they have the­ relationships with banks that is needed to get such big­ loans. So as long as UEFA doesn't do @#$%.... sop­ blaming Real!

    From sidman612, on Fri 3 Jul 2:22AM

  18. Real Madrid signals the death of football. I admit it,­ there are now only two teams in Europe. Man United are­ finished - Owen instead of Benzema, Valencia instead of­ Ronaldo.

    As Nietzsche once said "FOOTBALL IS­ DEAD"

    From Anon, on Fri 3 Jul 1:31AM

  19. it obivous they dont hav the money, they are in debt!!!

    From dodger, on Thu 2 Jul 10:04PM

  20. I guess I can understand Madrid's spending on­ expensive players......when you've reached as low­ as they have.....they tend to panic buy! Bueno, cada­ loco con su locura!

    From marilacson, on Thu 2 Jul 5:11PM
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