If you look back two seasons at Real Madrid, in what was the last real season of the “Galacticos” era, 2006 was the year Real’s house of cards finally collapsed.  It’s strange how on paper you can have the best team the world has ever seen but eventually egos will take over and the team becomes it’s own worst enemy.  The likes of Zidane, Roberto Carlos etc. weren’t just too old but they had perhaps nothing left to prove.   

As an Arsenal fan I can’t help finding the final scene of ‘Goal 2: Living The Dream’ hilarious.  Set and filmed during the season in question it depicts Real winning the Champions League final at the Santiago Bernabeu by beating Arsenal 3-2.  The scene is clearly filmed during the actual visit of Arsenal in February 2006, and we all know what really happened that day.  Even better, I listened to the dvd commentary and it turns out that after that defeat the Real players had to then act out scenes using extras in Arsenal shirts of them beating Arsenal and winning the game.  Genius! 

But I don’t think this is the time to make fun of Madrid, they’ve come a long way since that 0-3 loss to Barca at the Bernabeu (a game often overlooked in England because of Arsenal’s result) and now it looks like those Spanish tables are quickly turning.  They look a different side under Schuster and the result at Camp Nou in December seems to sum up the season.  The egos have left Madrid and have infected Barcelona.  Henry, Deco and even Ronaldinho seem to be shadows of their former selves.  They’ve made their names already and clearly feel they don’t need to do it again.  Think what’s happened with Ballack and Shevchenko at Chelsea but with the whole team.  A real shame as Barcelona are a team I have admired from a distance for some time.  I think changes are in order down there. 

Speaking of egos at least Ronnie and Thierry have legacies to speak of, when someone with no glittering, trophy-laden career to speak of starts behaving like he’s too good for where he is the mind boggles.  I am talking of course about Mr. Dimitar Berbatov.  By far the most over-rated player in the premiership and he seems to think he’s too good for Tottenham.  Well I can’t wait to see his move (£30m!!!!???) to Man-U condemn him to a lifetime on the bench I really can’t, he’s no way good enough to make it in the top, top flight in my opinion.  A classic example of how a bad attitude can ruin a promising career.

Arsene Wenger says somewhere in the member’s area of the official Arsenal website about how everyone who has left Arsenal football club has lived to regret it.  Obviously he means it in the nicest possible way but looking at the more immediate and recent facts you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s more of a warning.

Robert Pires leaves Arsenal in June 2006 for Villareal and manages to break his leg ruling him out for a whole season, bad enough for any player but when you’re 32 and don’t have much playing time left it’s a slight pain in the buttocks.  Patrick Vieira left for Juventus and his house was gassed while he and his family were asleep leaving the burglars free to steal what they wanted, that is just terrifying.  Thierry Henry the poor bugger has been plagued by injury since he went to Spain and no matter how much the official Barca website chooses to gloss over it his first season at the club has been a massive disappointment.  Even the club’s president has come out and said that his transfer was a mistake and whoever decided to buy him should be punished.  Suddenly £16m doesn’t seem so bad after all. 

It’s not all people who I have sympathy for though, look at the results of the controversial Cole/Gallas transfer.  Gallas captaining the league leaders having scored six goals so far, Cole now not even a regular starter in a team who should think themselves lucky to be in the top four, hasn’t even come close to scoring (although contributed brilliantly to an own-goal last season).   The younger upstarts who believe their own hype at least manage mediocrity, Anelka has his pick of mid-table fodder, Bentley is doing great at Hughes’ over-rated new Blackburn side (wait for him to get a national call-up and then request a transfer to Chelsea, never to start a game again).  Of course there’s also Pennant who, erm, well you get the idea.   

It’s things like this that I wish players like Bendtner, Diarra and Diaby knew as well as I do.  I really rate these players and with us they could eventually become players of real quality, otherwise they’ll be the new Sidwells, Upsons, Larrsons.  Players that people “rate” but will probably never become anything special, never make a difference.  As Wenger pointed out in a recent interview no other big-club in the world gives young players a chance the way Arsenal do.  These kids need to see sense and fast, the curse of the Arse is an unforgiving phenomenon. 

Jens…  I’m saying this a friend… watch your back.